When it comes to my garden, I've found that, like many other things in life, decisions I make today affect the health and appearance of my outdoor spaces months--even years--from now. Case in point: my blue-and pink-blooming hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla). A number of months ago I lamented the fact that they did not bloom last summer. My research indicated that our supremely cold winter last year was the culprit, as the continued, numbing cold killed off the tender buds (see my post from August 18, 2014).
This year, the winter in upstate New York has had intervals of deep freeze equal to last year's. Yet even though this season hasn't maintained the radical dip, it has flirted with the dangerous lows that threaten vulnerable plantings. And it's only January. We've got a lot of winter ahead of us. Any plants in pots had best be in a garage, shed or basement by now. And the hydrangeas? They're still susceptible to damage, and a few days of temps hovering near 0 degrees are going to hurt them, even if the thermometer periodically jumps up into the 20's and 30's. These plants can sustain temps of 5 to 10 degrees relatively well, but not any colder.
I decided to take action to give the hydrangeas a fighting chance to bloom come late spring: Last fall I wrapped all the hydrangeas (including white-blooming oakleaf hydrangea, because it develops buds in the late fall) in plastic chicken-wire-type netting. I found my netting in my neighbor's junk heap (thank you, Karen), but you can get something similar in any hardware or big-box home improvement store. I held the wire so that it was vertical, and wrapped it twice (loosely)around each plant. Don't cover the plants horizontally because subsequent snow will put too much weight on them, and could snap their shoots.
After plants were properly wrapped, I gently pushed fallen oak leaves in open spaces between shoots, and between the plants and the loosely wrapped netting, to provide a cushy little nest of warmth to help them weather the upcoming storms of the season. If you do this too, make sure to shred leaves a bit so they don't stick together and create a mat, which is hard for precipitation and sunlight to penetrate. They don't have to be shredded like mulch, just torn up a bit.
Since leaves tend to eventually settle near the base of plants, "fluff up" the leaves periodically to keep them evenly spread throughout. And add more as the season progresses. Before a bad frost, especially, top off the leaves with fresh ones, making sure to cover up to the ends, since this is where most of the buds are. The plant below is in need of a topping. As you can see, the leaves have settled into the plant base, which isn't helping those tender blossoms at the top of branches. I'm hoping a little TLC now will translate into flower power come next summer, but only time will tell. Stay tuned!
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