Hydrangea is one of the most beautiful ornamental shrubs you can have in your garden. Novice gardeners often plant this plant. Today, one of the most frequently asked questions regarding this flower is this: how to cover hydrangeas for the winter and why is it needed at all? It must be remembered that these plants can be of different species. It is depending on this that the hydrangea is sheltered for the winter. The most demanding for this procedure is a garden large-leaved variety. Panicle and tree hydrangeas need shelter the least. Usually all of these species grow on the gardener's site, and each requires a special approach.
How to cover a hydrangea for the winter
First of all, you should understand how to carry out this procedure with large-leaved hydrangea. It must be remembered that cutting this plant is highly undesirable, otherwise the next year an unlucky gardener can get an ordinary ugly shrub with absolutely no flowers. This is due to the fact that hydrangea flower stalkslocated at the tops of the shoots and begin to bloom only in the second year. By cutting them, the gardener destroys the buds and deprives the plant of any opportunity to bloom. In addition, you should adhere to a certain technology that explains how to cover hydrangeas for the winter. If you follow the instructions below, then next year the plant will continue to delight its owner with lush and very beautiful inflorescences:
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how to cover hydrangea for the winter In the middle of autumn (late October or early November), you should very carefully dig the ground around the hydrangea.
- The bush and the roots of the plant are recommended to be mulched. A mixture of straw and sawdust is best suited for this, which will provide the hydrangeas with the necessary heat and oxygen access. In addition, by spring, the mulch will turn into a nutrient layer that will help the plant come to life after the cold.
- The base of the branches can be insulated by covering them with peat.
- It is necessary to put several tree branches on the plant bush, pressing them to the ground. In winter, these branches will take the brunt of the ice and snow and save the hydrangea branches from breaking. This is incredibly important for keeping the kidneys intact.
How to prepare a hydrangea for winter
Paniculata varieties of this plant prepare for cold weather in a slightly different way. They are covered in the following way:
- Directly in the center of the bush is poured a small hill of a mixture consisting of apple leaves and coniferous needles.
- From above, this is all pressed down with a few dry branches of any tree. This approach will protect the plant from the severity of the snow and prevent young shoots from breaking.
- Among other things, shoots are usually pruned in such a way that three buds remain on each of them. This should be done when the juice has ceased to circulate through the plant. Otherwise, it will continue to flow until the death of the entire shoot.
Now we know how to cover hydrangeas for the winter. It remains only to say a few words about the tree variety of this plant. How to cover hydrangeas for the winter, if they belong to this species? It is absolutely not necessary to do this. Experienced gardeners are limited to a few spades of earth, which are thrown at the base of the bush during the autumn digging of the garden.
