Alan Titchmarsh shows off his hydrangeas
Hydrangeas are beautiful blooms that are prized by any gardener due to being easy to take care of while making any garden pop with colour. However, the current hot temperatures and heatwave many people are facing may be causing hydrangea to wilt or even die.
Hydrangea plants need to retain a lot of water, and can quickly be damaged if under lots of heat stress. Luckily there is a very simple four-step gardening process that can revive hydrangea in only two hours.
Classy Flowers is a small and family-owned flower shop who are expert when it comes to all sorts of plants, and has said that hydrangea can “almost always be brought back to life fairly quickly” if they begin to die in the heat.
In a video online, a Classy Flower florist explained that hydrangea should not be thrown away if they appear to have died, as they can easily be revived.
They said: “I think many gardeners are faced with a situation when a hydrangea pot or bush suddenly begins to wither. Hydrangea may collapse even after short breaks between watering or from extreme heat. This often happens with hydrangeas as it is a very moisture-demanding plant.
READ MORE: Hydrangeas turn deep purple tone by adding kitchen leftover to soil
How to revive a hydrangea in four steps
Step one
To begin, the florist said that a bucket must be filled with boiling water and the bucket must be big enough to place the hydrangea plant in, as it will help hydrate the hydrangea.
She explained: “I will prepare warm water by adding boiling water into a bucket of colder water. Temperature is a catalyst for biological processes, and this will significantly accelerate the hydration.”
However, the florist warned not to add the hydrangea to boiling water just yet, as it will damage the plant. She said: “The water can’t be too hot, but it must be tolerable for your hand.
“Very hot water can damage hydrangea roots. Water also quickly loses its heat, giving energy to the plant, so don’t be too worried about this.”
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Step two
For the next step, take a spray bottle fill it with water, and gently spray the plant once it is fully emerged in the bucket. The florist explained that this is done to prevent evaporation.
She said: “Stop the evaporation of moisture through the leaf surface as much as you possibly can since the plant also loses a lot of moisture during respiration. Stopping this loss can significantly speed up the process.”
Step three
The third step requires placing the hydrangea plant in a cool area for a few hours to let it fully hydrate. The florist said: “Heating the roots from below and stopping evaporation from above to accelerate.
“You should put the hydrangea in a cool room or even better, in a refrigerator. The most effective temperature is from five to ten degrees Celsius.”
After two to three hours, the hydrangea plant should have fully revived, although the florist warned that some parts of the plant may have died off while dehydrated.
She said: “The plant has come to life before our eyes. Of course, not all the flowers since with dehydration there is always a point of death beyond which you cannot reverse.”
Step four
The last step is to simply prune and trim off the dead parts of the plant in order to prevent it from killing the rest of the hydrangea.
The florist explained: It is necessary to remove all the dead parts of the plant. The flowers, as well as the leaves in order to avoid bacterial and fungal infection that may appear on the dead parts of the plant.”
The plant is now ready to be placed in your garden or repotted and should be blooming beautifully.
However, it is important to note that in order to prevent hydrangea from dying in the heat they must never be watered from the top, such as from their flowers and leaves. Hydrangea will only last if watered from their soil in order to hold in the moisture, so should be placed in a well-draining pot.
The florist explained: “If such a pot is watered from the top, then the very dry and crumpled-up earth saturated with air is not going to be able to absorb the moisture and all the water is going to simply flow around a lump of soil and then pour out, although you think you have watered the plant.”
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