I've been wanting to really share this story of how i saved my Hydrangea bushes, and how i have some of the only flowering hydrangeas in town.
This past February it got warm, like really warm. For a week at the end of Feb it was 75 or greater and i think we hit 80 one day. Well all that warmth plus the rain caused all the Hydrangeas in the area to start to leaf out. It had been a fairly warm winter, so i wasn't shocked. All 4 of my bushes broke buds and i had some serious leafage and new growth coming out of the center from the soil line. Well, as most of us know in March it decided to get cold again. I was watching the weather and i saw they were forcasting highs only in the 30's and lows in the low 20's and the colder nights were in the middle teens. Of course we had 20-30 mph winds this whole week. I knew the all the tender leaves would never survive that, and i didn't want to loose all hopes of flowers this year. I also knew that simply covering them with a blanket would not work. So i devised a plan, and went to work. Just before the cold snap, i dug 2 strands of C9 clear Christmas lights. I have the stakes for them as i use them to line the driveway for Christmas. I put the stakes around the crown, for lack of better term, and angled them inward. I spaced them out about every 6 inches around the stalks on each bush. I mounted the lights on the stakes and made sure none were touching the bushes, and adjusted as needed. I then took old moving blanket and draped them over the bushes. I made sure i had a little open space at the bottom so they could breathe. I then covered the moving blankets with some table clothes i got from my grandmother (they are really tacky!) which i then tied down with more stakes or laid a brick on them to keep them put in the wind. I have a solar timer for the lights, and i set it to turn on a dusk and off at dawn. Here is a pic of the final setup, i wish i had taken pics of the lights.
On the first really cold night i went out to check to see if this was even going to work. It was 25 degrees when i went out. I brought a thermometer with me, and i put inside into the open space under all the coverings and waited a minute or two. When i put my hand in there i noticed an immediate difference and how warm it was underneath. I then checked the thermometer and it read a whopping 55 degrees in there! When the weather warmed 4 days later, i uncovered everything and it was all still green! They survived happily in their warm cocoon. I did have to cover with the moving blankets a few more times for light frosts, but it wasn't many. Everyone else's Hydrangeas suffered and lost all their foliage. I now am the only guy in town who has blooming Hydrangeas so far. Here is a picture of them now.
Thanks for reading and letting me brag.
Story of my Hydrangea bushes i wanted to share.
-
- Posts: 254
- Joined: December 21st, 2016, 1:56 pm
- Location: Quad Cities, IA
- Grass Type: Northern Mix
- Lawn Size: 3000-5000
- Level: Experienced
Re: Story of my Hydrangea bushes i wanted to share.
Hey that's really cool. Very nice...
I'd be in trouble though, since my Christmas lights are LED. lol
I'd be in trouble though, since my Christmas lights are LED. lol
-
- Posts: 20
- Joined: May 13th, 2017, 8:46 am
- Location: Atlanta, GA
- Grass Type: Bermudagrass
- Lawn Size: Not Specified
- Level: Not Specified
Re: Story of my Hydrangea bushes i wanted to share.
Nice! Wish I'd done this for my azaleas!!
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests