If you live in Florida, you know our sultry, summer days have arrived. It's becoming hard to get more than a couple gardening hours in the morning, before the sweltering heat sets in. I did get out this morning long enough to pull a few weeds, tie up some tomatoes and cucumbers, and start some hydrangea cuttings. I've always just plopped my hydrangeas in a bucket of water until they root, then pot them up. Some folks have better luck starting them in soil, but I nearly always get 100% success my way, so as they say, "if it ain't broken, don't fix it". I took some cuttings from these shrubs first, sometimes called Bigleaf, French, or Mophead Hydrangeas.
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The shrubs the cuttings are coming from...these all came from one purchased shrub.
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| I'm taking the cuttings from the back of the shrubs where it won't be noticed. |
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| The cuttings should be this years growth, somewhat supple. |
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| There's no big mystery to this...I just strip off all but the top couple sets of leaves. As you can see, I've trimmed the bottom two leaves to half their size, not mandatory. |
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| Another view. |
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I always use a white or light colored bucket so the light is more available to the stems. I'm using a piece of a gladioli trellis to help the cuttings stand up, but it's not necessary. What is important, is that they stay in the shade and have ample water in the bucket.
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| I'm going to grab a cutting from this variegated Lacecap Hydrangea also. |
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And one from this Shooting Star, also a Lacecap Hydrangea.
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| All done. I'll leave them here for about a month, they should have enough roots to pot up then. I usually keep them potted until fall, when I either plant them or give them away. And, of course, I'll keep you posted. |
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