Here’s why your blue hydrangea blooms are turning pink
The science of shifting shades
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Q. The gorgeous blue hydrangea I bought a few years ago produces only pink blossoms now, despite my adding used coffee grounds and aluminum sulphate to acidify the soil. The shrub is located next to a concrete wall, which I was told might be leaching lime into the soil.
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A. It is likely that the concrete is leaching lime into the soil, which means than you will need to keep up with adding acidifying amendments to counter the alkaline leaching.
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Coffee grounds help to acidify soils and aluminum sulphate is often recommended for the purpose though I prefer to use powdered garden sulphur, which is useful also as an antifungal agent for rubbing on large pruning cuts.
An alternative would be to move the hydrangea away from the concrete, if this is possible.
Q. We have a Clematis armandii that has gone out of control. The rampant vine needs so much pruning that we have decided to remove it. Can you recommend a replacement vine that would be easy to maintain?
A. I have the same issue with the Clematis armandii in my garden. I love the early flowers, but the evergreen vine is such a rampant grower that it is hard to keep under control without fairly drastic pruning.
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If you do not require another vine that is evergreen, I would recommend one of the small-flowering, summer-blooming clematis varieties from among the many in the Clematis viticella species.
Among them, Mme Julia Correvon is a star. This vine bears wine-red flowers all summer. It grows to around four metres high.
The Viticellas are easy to manage. Because they bloom on the current year’s growth, they can simply be cut down close to the ground in late winter to make way for new spring growth to carry the summer’s flowers.
Though they can be planted in autumn, spring is the preferred time for purchasing and moving a new clematis into a garden.
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