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

my house when I was growing up had a huge Peace rose in the front garden, it was glorious. I was quite upset when I walked past after my parents had sold up to go into a retirement home that the new owners had done away with it.

I certainly appreciate it fully now that I'm older and am so pleased that I managed to overcome my parsimony! It's a glorious rose. How sad for you to see it gone 😞

Yes, you just need lots of ericaceous compost.

Look at Gardening express on trustpilot, they are absolutely shocking and so glad that you actually got any plants at all 😉

I realise that now 😞

Have two large blue ones here (not in Cornwall), my others are deep purple/deep pink on the same bushes.

My pink one is in a pot, I wanted a change.

I have one that has washed out pastel blooms, its trying its best but I'm not sure about it all the same when my others are such strong colours.

I know my soil is acidic but I also put down coffee grinds from our machine, my hydrangeas seem to like it. I do my own composting too so the garden is feeding itself really.

Like a pp, I'm not really a fan of hydrangeas. For those of you who are, I can thoroughly recommend the approach to Portmeriion. When we last visited, it was a positive riot of different coloured hydrangeas. Even though I'm not a fan, even I thought they were stunning.

My lacecap hydrangea has pink and lilac flowers all on the same bush, which looks delightful, but has only happened the last maybe 3 years. For the previous 25 years or so it was unremittingly pink all over. So they do have a mind of their own.

I googled it last year and found out that it can happen if your soil is neutral. So maybe that's what has happened to mine. I have had to water it a lot more often in recent years so maybe that has changed the pH in the soil.

We had to replace the lime render on our house and our bright pink hydrangea went blue for two years, then purple then back to pink. All the dust had fallen on the soil. Go for the adjustment, ours was a happy accident!

I've ordered some aluminium sulphate/aluminum sulfate 😜 and will experiment. If anything interesting happens, I will post pix! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

@Beachtastic You might have to wait until next year before you see any changes though. By the way, I always leave the spent heads on the bush all winter, they look amazing with a frost on them.

Blue hydrangeas turn pink without the right soil

Do you water your hydrangeas using mains water? That may be enough to turn them pink in a hard-water area. I've managed to keep some of mine blue by growing them in pots with ericaceous soil and giving them only rainwater.

Same, I have a lacecap that is literally called Bluebird and it's had all the blueing chemicals and it's just gone and flowered pink again. I'm so cross!

My Nanna had a stunning garden and she always said to bury a spoon in your hydrangea soil. That's a quick fix you could do today, though it takes a while kick in.

Good point! Yes, it is a hard water area...

Feed it used coffee grounds.
You can get them at all sorts of coffee shops and supermarkets. Ask!
They will work in t h e same flowering season, sending it several shades bluer from the new unopened buds.

The variagation in the picture that you so like could possibly just be a snapshot colour of the blooms having just opened. They do all go somewhat darker and more dense as the flowers sit there, this could include losing the whitish element of the petals.

I love hydrangeas! They're big bold and flamboyant !
And very easy to look after.

I do think they make fantastic cut flowers, and are also kind of bombproof, which is ideal for my gardening skills.

And, as a PP mentioned, lovely in winter with the frost on the dead heads, although I am not sure we get many frosts where I am!

Maybe I just have bad taste but I think she looks lovely, the pink looks nice against the dark green!

Edited - sorry, didn't mean to quote full post and it won't let me remove.

Yes. I dug up a big hydrangea a few years ago when we had work done near it. I split it 4 ways. The one in front garden is pink like yours. The 2 closest to it's original site are like the one in the photo you'd ordered and the one towards the back if the garden is vivid blue.

I've been advised to add some rusty nails to the soil to turn pink flowers blue. Problem is I have no rusty nails!

I'd be binning that one off OP - I don't grow plants that I don't love - I have too many that I want to grow already- rather than giving space to something that doesn't fill you with joy when you see it :)

I bought a pearl tree once, it had fruit the following year - cherries!

This thread is honestly a good mood tonic - so wholesome! Can I ask whether that is the correct name on the product page for the hydrangea you received please? I actually quite like that variant. 😅