GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Hydrangea moisture requirements workaround?

Sacha[_3_] · 30-07-2008, 04:38 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 30/7/08 14:33, in article
, "Vacutone"
wrote:

I'm going to plant a Hydrangea Serrata in the best position I can offer it,
with morning sun and aternoon shade, but the soil is not going to be moist if
I just plant it there and do nothing else. I can water it of course... But I
wonder what else I could do. I can put pieces of stone (I've got some big
fragments of broken marble and other stuff like that) around it to reduce
evaporation from the soil itself. But I recall watching someone on Gardener's
World planting something that liked a lot of moisture with some plastic
sheeting in the planting hole to provide a sort of subterranean reservoir,
not reaching surface level but it was down there as a water resource that the
plant could reach with its roots if it wanted.

But I have read that hydrangeas like well-drained soil, so this might be a
Very Bad Idea. But maybe I could put something similar in the planting hole,
just smaller and lower down- like a couple of plastic containers each just a
few inches across, something like that, right in the bottom of the hole.

I can also plant smaller plants (geraniums?) around to shade the soil in that
general area.

And I can put together some trickle-type irrigation, although I know from
having that elsewhere that in practice I don't tend to use it all that
regularly but rather when I realise it is urgently needed.

Any ideas of how to make this hydrangea feel at home, that don't depend on me
having to water it every few days, would be helpful.

I think that in the end you will find it a lot easier to chuck a bucket of
water over it once or twice a day than to go through the rest of the faff,
to be honest. We have a hydrangea walk here beside the church and it's
probably about 50 or 60 yards long. One of us just drags the hose down
there either morning or evening or Ray puts a spray line on it. It's quite
soothing and peaceful to water the garden with an (evening) g &t in hand or
a (morning) cup of tea. ;-) I don't mean this at all rudely but if you're
worried about watering one hydrangea every few days, I think you might be
better not planting one at all because they do wilt very quickly in dry
weather.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon