Hydrangeas are the gift that keeps on giving

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – This Mother’s Day weekend, give mom the gift that keeps on giving. Hydrangeas, with the proper care, will produce blooms year after year.

“Hydrangeas are a wonderful plant to put in your garden. They can do sun, they can do shade, depending on the variety,” said Jeff Wallitsch, of Wallitsch Gardens.

The shade variety of hydrangeas thrive in morning sun and afternoon shade. They have large, leathery leaves with colorful blooms. You can find them with different pops of pinks, blues and purples, but that all depends on the pH of the soil.

“If you want more of a blueish color, you're going to use aluminum sulfate or an acid fertilizer to make it blue. And if you want it more pink or purple, you're going to change the ph and you're going to use something like lime,” Wallitsch advised.

While this shade variety sees blooms in the spring, the sun-loving hydrangeas bloom later in the summer — July, August, or even September and have a slightly different look to them.

“They're always going to have more of a pyramidal, or conical bloom to them. Typically they're either like a whitish color or lime green and then they're typically going to fade to shades of pink,” Wallitsch said.

The best part? They are very low maintenance.

“There are several different plants that I can just put in the ground and I’m like, ‘The odds are now in your favor. Like you do your thing. I’m not going to take care of you. You’re done.’ So I do love the sun hydrangeas,” Wallitsch said.

When it comes to pruning, Wallitsch said it’s not as confusing as it used to be.

“A lot of the hydrangea breeders have made it super easy for us homeowners now,” he said. “A lot of your blue and pink ones, the bigger leather leaf type hydrangeas, those are going to be re-bloomers. Typically most of them are. So if you cut them back at any time, you’re not necessarily going to sacrifice any blooms. If you do have old hydrangeas and you’re not sure which variety it is, it's always a good thing to just prune it back right after it flowers, that way you’re not cutting off any blooms for later.”

For the sun-loving hydrangeas, you simply cut them back anytime during the winter.

From there, expect beautiful blooms every year.

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