| Please help! I got a plant from someone (I was told it was a miniature Hydrangea) but I don't know how to care for it. It hasn't died yet, but the leaves are turning pink. Is re-potting, fertilizing, trimming leaves, etc. necessary? I can't seem to find any info anywhere on this flower/plant. I would love to get a few more to pot indoors....any suggestions where I could find more of these? |
| or live in an area where winter temperatures usually stay above zero. If you don't have a greenhouse, if you live where the winters are fierce, and if you have the patience of Job, try this technique to see if you can bring your plant into flower a second time. After it has finished flowering, cut the plant back to two nodes from the soil level and repot in ordinary potting soil. Set it outside for the summer, keep it moist, and feed it twice a month with any standard houseplant fertilizer. In the fall, while the leaves are still on the plant, give it at least 6 weeks of night temperatures below 65F degrees. Then after the leaves drop, give it another 5 weeks of night temperatures between 35 and 45. Then set the plant into a protected cold frame-one that's been hilled up with soil and leaves and covered with a tarp to prevent repeated freezing and thawing of the plants inside-until January. Bring it inside where the nights are in the low 50s, feed it every other week, and it should blossom in about 2 months. Good luck!" Crocket goes on further to say that cuttings can be taken in the spring from the stems of flowering plants in order to have continued new young plants. The older hydrangeas will continue to need to be repotted to a larger size. I imagine your plant is trying to take its winter's rest, and it may not be too late to allow it to go into dormancy if you can find a cool, then cold spot for it. Have fun! I guarantee that if you get the plant to rebloom yourself, you will enjoy those blooms far more than the original! Even if it fails to rebloom, try taking some cuttings this spring and start new plants. or live in an area where winter temperatures usually stay above zero. If you don't have a greenhouse, if you live where the winters are fierce, and if you have the patience of Job, try this technique to see if you can bring your plant into flower a second time. After it has finished flowering, cut the plant back to two nodes from the soil level and repot in ordinary potting soil. Set it outside for the summer, keep it moist, and feed it twice a month with any standard houseplant fertilizer. In the fall, while the leaves are still on the plant, give it at least 6 weeks of night temperatures below 65F degrees. Then after the leaves drop, give it another 5 weeks of night temperatures between 35 and 45. Then set the plant into a protected cold frame-one that's been hilled up with soil and leaves and covered with a tarp to prevent repeated freezing and thawing of the plants inside-until January. Bring it inside where the nights are in the low 50s, feed it every other week, and it should blossom in about 2 months. Good luck!" Crocket goes on further to say that cuttings can be taken in the spring from the stems of flowering plants in order to have continued new young plants. The older hydrangeas will continue to need to be repotted to a larger size. I imagine your plant is trying to take its winter's rest, and it may not be too late to allow it to go into dormancy if you can find a cool, then cold spot for it. Have fun! I guarantee that if you get the plant to rebloom yourself, you will enjoy those blooms far more than the original! Even if it fails to rebloom, try taking some cuttings this spring and start new plants. |
