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

Ooohhh, can you point me to the thread? I didn't realise this was actually a "thing"! 😂

I'm afraid I can't find it. I've searched under 'threads I started' and scrolled through pages and pages of the Gardening topic.

It's a shame MN search function is so poor.

Aaaaagggghhhhh! Sorry to have wasted your time. I'll have a look too and will post it here if I find it.

I found it! https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/4453290-Hydrangea-advice-please

I will update it with pics of how it looks like at the moment.

nb It was posted under a different username, but it's me.

Thank you for sharing!

You did really well with yours 😍

I've had a read through and my notes have expanded even further on how to torment mine into behaving as I wish!

My hydrangeas next to my pine tree go that colour in the photo

I think pine tree needles are acidic? (trying to think whether there are any pine forests around that I can plunder!)

Well the ones I have that get covered in needles turn a totally different colour to my ones at the other end of the garden… maybe worth trying mulching needles in if you can? Pretty harmless

Dug up and potted just now. Already bigger than I was kidding myself she would ever grow. Fingers crossed and a lot of bullshit self-talk seems to drive a lot of my gardening failures.

Let the experiments begin!

On a plus note, given that this came from Gardening Express:
It turned up
It is alive
It is a hydrangea!

I was furious with it! Definitely gave it a good talking to! I have a small garden and this is one of the largest plants I have. How dare it not bloom. It is a really lovely shape though, so I gave it a chance!

The caffeine in coffee grounds has potential to inhibit plant growth, and may also be harmful to beneficial soil bacteria and other small creatures in the soil such as worms.

Research suggests that coffee grounds are better added to compost heaps and allowed to decompose rather than being used fresh around plants.

So it seems the firm use of a pair of secateurs is a remedy for non-compliant Hydrangeas? I'll wave a pair at it next time I go past.

Here it is, looking more pink than it actually is, it's more a dark red -