An addition of lime or superphosphate spread around the base of the plants will give pink flowers. (*organically: horse manure)
Adding aluminum sulfate will give blue flowers. (*organically: coffee grounds)

*We do use the organic methods on our Nikko Blue and get the results above.

BubbaGardener, will goat pills do for manure? We have about 40 of those here. If not, I will find some lime. Thank you so much.

Couldn't tell ya...I'd reach for the lime on that one :) Course ya could get a ph test done on your goat manure and find out that way. I don't know if fresh goat manure would burn roots or not, though.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if the plant changed to pink on its own as a result of the move, and you like the new color...why would you need to do anything to keep it that color? Presumably the soil in its new home is causing the color change. I wouldn't do anything but watch it for a year or two and only then add lime or manure if you become dissatisfied with the color. Just my two cents!! Good luck.

My memory is terrible, but I "think" I added dirt from my compost pile to the new hole. That may be what did the trick. I can only assume this will change with time? I certainly don't want it to change back to blue so I may get the lime or try the goat manure to keep it pink. The blooms are smaller but that could be due to the transplant shock? I agree it should not change back in the next year of course and I will let it go for now, but the pink is a very dark, deep pink color. Very pretty.

Hmmmm, Goatster, that is interesting. My ES are a beautiful deep pink and they are planted in a raised bed made out of compost. I assumed our soil here in the midwest was alkaline which explains the color, plus our water is supposed to be a high pH as well. However, my mom has two ES which she neither waters nor has she ammended her soil with compost or anything else. She lives about three miles away and hers are blue. She has not treated them with aluminum sulfate or anything else, btw. Makes me wonder what color these babies will be in the long run.

Ditto what they suggested. Non-white hydrangeas often change color on their own when they are transplanted. Perhaps they are adjusting to the new environment. It is not unusual to see several different colors on one shrub the next year after planting.

Lots of time you will see someone on this forum make a point that newly planted plants will have a tendency to be pink even though they may turn blue in later years. The same thing about transplanted plants. And I don't know that anyone really has an answer as to why, but the usual statement is that the roots need to be developed before they're able to take up the aluminum needed to make a blue flower. I don't know how much of this is conjecture, but you see it lots.

I've seen it happen. I have a very established Blue Billow colony. I moved just a few of them around, but still they stayed in the same general area. Next year the blooms were vey noticably pinker than the established ones.

Good luck. Hay.

I have just planted two Nikko Blues in a bed that also has some Azaleas in it. I have read aluminum will harm the azalas. Can I use coffee grounds to the same results?
I assume I need to ley them "settle in" for a year or two before tinkering with the pH.

This reminds me of a very funny story . When I was 17 , The father of a long time friend replanted their hydrangea from the back of the house to the front.
This man was well known to like his beer , wine ect... more often than not He was feeling no pain .
When the hydrangea was in the backyard it was a blue color.
After moving it to the front there were no blooms one year but the following year it bloomed a stunning pink!
He was so elated and marveled at the color change not knowing at the time about soil PH and color change.
The folks whom he told that were not aware of PH levels changing flower colors just assumed his story of how his flowers changed from blue to pink as being a by product of too much booze.
It wasn't until I learned from working at a garden center shortly there after that I was able to tell Him why his Hydrangea changed color.
We had a good laugh .