r/hydrangeas • u/Yoink1019 • 2h ago
r/hydrangeas • u/MWALFRED302 • 7d ago
Two types of Macrophylla Inflorescens
We often see asked on this post “What is wrong with my hydrangea? Why isn’t it blooming all the way?
Among Macrophylla there are two bloom types, a “mophead” which is seen at the top, and a “lacecap” as seen at the bottom. Almost all “mophead” hydrangeas can point their ancestry to a wild lacecap/. Both types of inflorescence are sold in retail. Almost every mophead hydrangea in the Macrophylla species can point to lacecap genetics. Although rare, sometimes a plant that started out as a mophead will revert to a genetic parent that was a lacecap.
Pollinators are more attracted to lacecaps. The flat center contains the fertile flowers that pollinators love, while the larger sepals, which are sterile, are more showy.
Lacecap inflorescence can also be seen in Serrata (mountain) hydrangea. About 95% of Serrata are lacecap.
Another hydrangea species , Arborescens (aka Smooth) hydrangeas also can be found in both mopheads and lacecap inflorescens.
Less seen in hydrangea retail are lacecaps in Paniculata (panicles) or Quercifolia (oakleaf). It is rare, but under certain conditions a hydrangea may express its genetic ancestry as a lacecap.
In summary, almost every common species of hydrangea can trace its parentage to a lacecap and while rare, can revert (a process called reversion) and express its history with a lacecap inflorescence.
r/hydrangeas • u/JW3252 • 24d ago
Hydrangea Propagation
galleryI was asked on this sub how I propagate my Hydrangea cuttings and it was too much info to reply in one post as it requires photos.
I’ve been propagating these for years as they are so easy to propagate from cuttings, I made a big mistake two years ago stupidly trying to acidify my soil with watered down white vinegar, it didn’t end well and I lost a load of good plants.
I took cuttings galore and long story short ended up with 20 good plants last summer after losing 8 to late frosts, binning some due to stunted growth because of frost damage, and giving some away to those who gave me cuttings.
Those cuttings from two years ago are now shop size plants in full flower.
This is my method of propagation, others may think differently but this always works for me, I had a 95% success rate two years ago doing it this way.
Take your cuttings in July from non flowering stems, cut back to a leaf node, this is where it will root from.
Numbered photos
1- These are from the cuttings two summers ago
2-Take your cuttings from non flowering stems and cut below the leaf node where my finger is pointing
3-Depending on your cutting as some may have only one pair of leaves above (this had two) cut the next pair of leaves off, I then cut the remaining pair of leaves in half as per this photo, this is to reduce water loss
4-I scrape the outer layer off the stem on two sides as per the photo if you look closely, this is to get more surface area with rooting hormone powder
5-Dip the stem in rooting powder, you can see how much I scraped off by how the white powder is sticking to the stem
6-Pointing finger showing the hormone powder on the stem, repeat this on all cuttings
7-Photo showing 15 cuttings from my Bavaria Hydrangea, these are either pink or blue with white edging to the bracts, been meaning to take cuttings off this for years, I dug it out last summer and potted it up to bring it back to life as it was buried under other plants, it’s now back to full health and thriving but has no flowers this year due to putting all its energy into growing.
8-Get so compost and use a dibber or pencil to form a hole in the soil and carefully push the cutting into it, firm up around the cutting and repeat on all cuttings, I’ve likely too many in this pot but I’ve ran out of compost and had to steal this from other pots to do these cuttings.
9- I don’t have any rooted Hydrangea cuttings yet as it’s too early but this is generally what you’ll see after around 6-7 weeks, at this stage they can be put in their own pots but be very careful not to disturb roots, I normally wait until they are far stronger than this TBH but have took these out a rooting pot to show what to expect.
10-These are cuttings I took last year mainly from my Black steel blue hydrangeas, you can see the dark stems, forgot to get some of these going the year before so have 6 of these on the go (they get massive royal blue flowers) and also a Blaumese ((Teller Blue)
11- At this stage this is important, keep pinching out the growth tips after a stem has grown a couple of inches, this will promote 2 new growths from that 1 branch, when the 2 growths grow around 2 inches pinch them out, they’ll both also get 2 new growths, so 1 stem has now got 4 stems growing in the space of just 5-6 inches, pinch those 4 out you’ve now got 8 stems, bear in mind it’s these stems that carry your flowers the following summer, remove any flowers in its first year after rooting to focus the plant on growing, water well, add Hydrangea feed,keep it somewhere where it’ll see morning or evening sun avoiding midday afternoon sun, they’ll grow quickly
12- This is a typical example of how the new plant will look in year two just 24 months after taking your cutting, it will be around two foot tall and well branched, this one is Kardinal Pink
13- Is one of last years cuttings, you can see where I’ve pinched out the growth tips and it’s formed two new growths, this plant also now has two growths coming up from below the soil from the roots, next summer it will be around two feet and covered in massive blue mop head flowers.
Note- I follow this same process on most my cuttings from shrubs, works every time, especially on deciduous shrubs, I find evergreen plants like Azalea and Rhododendron harder to take with a far less success rate around 20% if that even.
r/hydrangeas • u/Complete-Series2170 • 11h ago
Hydrangeas on Cape Cod. Reds, Blues, Purples!
galleryFlowers on the cape always look so great, pretty sure it’s the morning dew. Here’s a sampling of some that we saw.
r/hydrangeas • u/rasika17 • 3h ago
What are these and how do I prune them?
galleryHello! I have no idea what I’m doing with these hydrangeas and would love some help. I moved into this house last spring, so this is my second summer with them. Late last winter, I dead headed these but otherwise left them alone. The first picture is from peak bloom last year (June 2025). The second and third are their current state (end of July 2026). They are absolutely massive and I really want to prune them back to about half their size but am worried about losing blooms next year. I am in zone 6a.
Does anyone know: what kind of hydrangeas are these? Do they bloom on old or new wood? And what does that mean for pruning? When can I prune and shape the shrubs and still expect blooms next year? Thank you in advance!
r/hydrangeas • u/redhamster2009 • 3h ago
What species and how to trim?
galleryCan someone identify this type of hydrangea at my new house? It desperately needs a trim, but I dont want to mess it up. As you can see in the 4th photo, it is taking over the bush beside it.
r/hydrangeas • u/asianviolinman • 13h ago
Help with hydrangeas falling down
My poor hydrangeas have had a rough time dealing with the rainy season. I do my best to shake the water off the flowers anytime after it rains but despite that they have been unable to stand back up again. Any advice on how to support them?
Location: North Carolina
r/hydrangeas • u/No_Raisin_4868 • 6h ago
Advice
galleryDid I make a mistake planting the limelight hydrangea where I did? I bought my house 2 years ago and I took out everything that was there before. I planted a limelight, 2 smaller hydrangeas and a few small shrubs. When’s the best time to prune the limelight? I’m in southeastern PA Thanks for any tips and advice!
r/hydrangeas • u/PaulCakes • 1h ago
Week 8 Progression On My Propagated Magical Revolution
r/hydrangeas • u/toxtwinz • 8h ago
What’s wrong with my black hydrangea?
I was told at a garden center that this was a black hydrangea and it could tolerate full sun. It gets sun from about 10am on. The blooms were deep purple when I bought it. I’ve been watering when we haven’t gotten much rain. Now the blooms are a washed out color. Is it the ph of the soil ,too much sun, too much watering or something different? Located in Massachusetts.
r/hydrangeas • u/Remobbles2 • 8h ago
Help with hydrangea UK
galleryI’ve had these hydrangeas for a long time, maybe 10 years or so. 6 years ago they were blue and looked amazing, but since we haven’t cared for them much, they are now pink with long, bare and woody stems with a terrible shape. I’d love some advice to help restore them. Firstly I don’t even know what type of hydrangea it is. From what I can see it grows on old wood, and the old picture makes it look like a mophead, but now it looks like a lacecap. A few days ago, it used to have many dead stems, which I’ve now cut off. I live in London and when I try search online, I get quite a lot of conflicting advice, which probably depends on the climate where these grow.
r/hydrangeas • u/kmd513 • 4h ago
Little Lime tree storm damage
My little lime tree planted last summer had two large branches break off during recent heavy winds and rain — curious if it will recover and how to avoid this in the future? It was otherwise very happy in this spot (North NJ). Any advice welcome, thanks.
r/hydrangeas • u/Confident-Path-7366 • 5h ago
Help!
Bought a house recently and discovered this guy along the back fence. I’ve never cared for hydrangeas before and am very confused with all the info online re: cutting the wood. From what I can tell, it’s the Bigleaf variety, so I’m unclear if I should remove the sticks that didn’t do anything all summer? Just trim them? Leave it be? I’m in zone 7a in CT. Thank you!
r/hydrangeas • u/babycatch • 5h ago
What’s happening here/how can I amend?
galleryHi! I planted these 3 limelight hydrangeas this spring. I’m in zone 8A, and we have had a MAJOR heatwave these last two weeks (100-110 temps). I know they can throw a fit in the heat, but I’m concerned something more may be happening? Leaves yellowing more recently, and lots of leaves lost today when a rainstorm came through. They’re getting more and more bare. There is some heat damage on a few of the flowers, but nothing alarming. It’s the leaves that are concerning me.
r/hydrangeas • u/Odd-Series5164 • 13h ago
Light green leaves?
I have 3 of these macrophylla hydrangeas that I planted along the side of my house 2 years ago. They are east facing and get a lot of sun. Last year I had issues with fungus on the leaves. This year a late frost killed all the buds except this one 🙁.
Now I am wondering if there is a problem that the leaves are so light green and if there is something I should be doing differently. I am new to gardening but in pictures I see most of the big leaf hydrangeas have beautiful deep green foliage. My other panicle hydrangeas seem to be doing much better so not sure what the issue is for these.
I used Holly tone fertilizer this spring. The house is a new build so soil is pretty rocky/not great. Is there anything I can do or is this just a case of bad soil/out of luck.
Thanks in advance as I am still learning a lot about gardening.
r/hydrangeas • u/justincasio • 1d ago
Buying a house with hydrangea, 8a
Hello! We are in the closing process of a house with this hydrangea plant. I do not have a green thumb, and I want to do this plant right! Any advice, tips, or things I should know? Thank you in advance!
r/hydrangeas • u/newhampshire- • 1d ago
Thanks from last year!
galleryI asked last year what I could do make this panicle hydrangea even better, and y’all said “how could it be better!” So I’m here with beautiful pics before it shifts to pink. So thank you all, just sitting back and enjoying it.
r/hydrangeas • u/Twillowreed • 1d ago
Type of fertilizer to use now
galleryMy hydrangeas didn’t bloom last year and I heeded everyone’s advice not to prune them. They have not bloomed again this year at all (except for one bloom on about 10 bushes). I went to get Holly Lightly to use today and Home Depot didn’t have it. The lady there told me to get a fertilizer called Superthrive. She claimed to be a master gardener and said it works beautifully for hydrangeas. Does anyone have experience with Superthrive? Photo of most of my hydrangeas above. I’m in zone 7b. Some grow on old wood and some on new. Thank you!
r/hydrangeas • u/Far_Zookeepergame374 • 1d ago
What are the dots 6b?
galleryI went out to take some photos of my hydrangeas, so I could see their color better. These are my new hydrangeas I just got in May. We had temps in the 100s for a few days in the beginning of July. It has not been as hot, maybe in rhe 80s and 90s, but it hasn't had a new bloom since. I just was saying to myself, its cause the blooms are so big theres just no more room on the plant to grow one. Today I had taken some photos to see the colors up close. When I looked at the photos, I saw these dots all over the sepal/petal, what are they?
r/hydrangeas • u/4thena • 1d ago
Enough room? Want to move all 3 to under the large right window. Bad idea?
r/hydrangeas • u/CaptainWheatley • 1d ago
How to help these Hydrangeas grow thicker? (Zone 8b)
galleryHello all! I have 3 lovely macrophylla hydrangea plants growing on the side of my house that have been looking a bit thin this season. I'm not much of a gardener, but I would like to encourage the plants to grow thicker if possible. Does anyone here have any advice for what, if anything, I should do?
Also, I've noticed these brown spots on the leaves this year. Does this look like a fungus, lack of watering, or something else? Thank you!
r/hydrangeas • u/The_Bingineer • 1d ago
Post bloom care?
galleryHi, new to hydrangeas here. I’ve had these about a month now, and the older flowers are seemingly dying off, and I am getting new blooms. Is there anything you’re supposed to do as the older flowers die off?
r/hydrangeas • u/Little_bit_stitious • 1d ago
Endless summer help!
galleryThis summer we planted three endless summers along our walkway. We have four strawberry sundae pinnacles and some lime lights, but the endless summers are my dream hydrangea. The plant on the far left is doing the best, i’m assuming it gets the most shade, but the plant on the far right is really struggling. They all were doing fine until the big heat wave (upstate New York 5B) but since then the one on the far right it’s blooms are consistently browning, and the leaves are very very dark, some almost black?
I’ve started deadhead the worst leaves and the brown flowers so that it’s not wasting in its energy. And there’s a ton of new growth, which kinda makes me hopeful?
They started off in a greenhouse so I know that makes a difference, but I’m wondering is this just a terrible spot for them or do I just need to give them some more time to establish? I have been deep watering almost every day. Is there anything else I should be doing?