Annoying bright pink hydrangea

[Beachtastic]

I made the foolish error of ordering loads of plants online when overexcited about having a garden at last after a few years living without one.

This hydrangea has just come into bloom and is a solid bright pink - that boring flat pink that hydrangeas can be. Nothing like the photo.

I now see that the description does mention "pink" but am not sure if that has changed since I placed the order last December.

Contacted Gardening Express about this and they have replied saying that I should adjust the pH of the soil using a hydrangea colourant. I know you can do that, but am I wrong for thinking there is no way it would ever look like the plant in their photo?

www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/hydrangea-macrophylla-gertrud-glahn

It could be the soil in your garden, different acidity levels give different colours 🪻

Yes, but would it realistically ever look anything like the photo they use?

Yes you need to adjust the acid in your soil if you want a blue one. Has anyone around you got a blue one? You may be onto a losing battle in some areas.
I’ve only ever grown blue ones in pots for this reason, personally I love the pink ones, blue ones and white ones. They are the only plant that sneaks in my garden that’s not good for pollinators. Everything else is selected for them

Yes if you change enough of the soil.

There's all sorts of witchcraft to get hydrangeas the colour you want.

I am in a one woman war with my hydrangeas. They are my least-liked plant but they just do so well in my garden that I am grudgingly giving them room. I'd wait out a whole season before you do anything drastic with yours, OP, you might like them better as they age and the colour sort of fades.

It might take some tinkering, to get it to the exact colour you want, but adding aluminum sulfate will def knock the pink back to a blue/purple. I did it last year with a cheapy from Lidl and this year's flowers are a lovely soft indigo.

I'm trying not to sound bitterly disappointed 😫 it's just that what I loved about the photo on their site is that it is a neutral cream colour that turns blue. Is it possible to achieve this by adjusting soil pH? I know you can fiddle pinks and blues with pH, but the contrast of cream and blue is what I liked...

It could look like the picture if you change the acidity of your soil, I can’t remember the science behind it but the blue hydrangea I planted three years ago is now pink! It will take a time though to revert back so you will need to be patient.

Not related to your concern about colour but I have mobility problems so can no longer walk around a garden centre and have to buy plants online. It’s very hard to know exactly what you will get as they always show the plant fully grown and full of flowers when what you actually get is a small stick like plant! I’ve learnt to read the small print very carefully and make sure I order a larger size pot than the small size the initial price relates to. It’s just a trick to entice you! For example, the advertised price of a lavatera might be £10 but that is for a tiny 9cm pot which will take a few years to get to a decent size. If I want one to fill the pot immediately then I look for a 3 lire pot which obviously costs more.

How pink is it atm?
Is it in the ground or a pot?
All you can do is tinker with it and see.
Maybe take a cutting and test out with that in ericaceous soil.

if they’ve sent you the same cultivar as the photo it should be possible, although it may be difficult. They really should say if the appearance of a plant may vary according to your soil type.
As a PP says, you’ll need aluminium sulfate. The colour is determined by the availability of aluminium ions, this depends on having both sufficient aluminium in the soil and also a low enough pH that it’s bioavailable. The sulfate half of the salt helps with the acidity (as with using ferrous sulfate on ericaceous plants such as rhododendrons).

I've never seen one that doesn't go that pink colour. It's the soil.

Mine started out a lovely variegated pinks and purples and cream, but yeah, they'll just go solid pink. In all the gardens I've seen.

Just enjoy the healthy plant. The pink things aren't actually flowers in the real sense, the flowers are much smaller and grow inside the pink thing later in the season.

My great Aunt swore by iron filings from her husbands workshop to adjust her colours

My great Aunt swore by iron filings from her husbands workshop to adjust her colours

Vinegar I believe changes the soil.

I think it's often a problem with the blue hydrangeas that they are quite an unattractive pink if the soil is wrong, you would hope they would be the same pattern as the blue but in pink but they rarely are. I only have pink or white hydrangeas because the resulting flower is more certain and less reliant on me needing to do a lot of soil work.

Having said that, I have found that cultivars particularly of hydrangeas seem to be a bit variable. I ordered 5 Vanille-Fraise plants and I know have three of one cultivar and two of another because the leaves are slightly different. Ultimately it didn't matter because when they flowered the flowers are very similar, you can see a slight difference but you would have to be really paying attention. Whereas other plants like fuchsias and roses have always turned out exactly as expected.

Here's the offending plant... she's in the soil, not a pot. (I'm going to think of this in terms of "she" rather than "it" in an effort to feel more compassionate towards this awkward accidental arrival!)

I must have gone berserk when ordering, because the only hydrangeas I really love are the lacecap ones, and others like "Limelight" that have a more conical shape like a lilac bloom. I just got sucked in by the photo I think, which is why I'm kicking myself.

@Ihateslugs that must be so frustrating! I've had some really nice things from online purchases (notably Sarah Raven, who has had a bit of a slating on here) but they can be rather unpredictable in terms of plant quality as well as size.

I'm going to experiment with some aluminium sulfate and will see what happens!

Looks nice.

I expect you will get used to "her".

@BlackAmericanoNoSugar "other plants like fuchsias and roses have always turned out exactly as expected"

While still on my reckless purchasing spree, I bought a couple of bargain bare-root roses from supermarkets. One was supposed to be "Peace" and has come out bright buttercup yellow, completely plain. The other was meant to be "Joro" (a vivid orange), but has come out bright pink!

I might have to learn to love a garden full of bright pinks 🤡🌞

I think they've sent you the wrong plant, to be honest. The petals are a different shape on the one you ordered.

I think you're right, but I also think I'm stuck with it her...

Lots of online plant suppliers will do a refund or replacement withina year. Might be worth an email

I did email them about it, but got a reply telling me to adjust the soil pH and all would be well. I doubt it's as simple as that, but also doubt arguing will get me very far!

You might find it changes during the year. Mine starts off pinky blue, has a mix of separate pink/blue flowers in July/Aug and by October they have gone a very deep maroon. Clay soil, slightly acidic.

I'm going to see if I can train mine to put on a show!!!