"Vacutone" wrote in message
s.com...
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.

--
Vacutone


Hi,

I've read the exchange between you and Sacha. Sacha's idea of an avenue or
concentration of hydrangeas is lovely - I've seen it done to great effect.
You will undoubtedly want more! If you go down this route, it makes the
sub-terranean reservoir method of watering more worthwhile. To all intents
and purposes, what you saw on the BBC gardening prog was a simple bog garden
but with more drainage. Please don't mistake me and build a bog garden, as
this would be too wet, but follow the general principles: a) dig out deep
depression b) line with strong plastic or butyl liner c) make holes to
allow *some* drainage d) backfill with soil e) plant your hydrangeas.
Having done this, if you subsequently think the area is too wet, simply use
a garden fork to make more holes.

If you only want the one plant, you could add some water-retaining
gel/crystals to the planting hole and the soil you back-fill with. You
could also bury a length of pipe next to the plant to guide water to the
roots of the plant. This will encourage the roots to grow down, rather than
stay near the soil surface where they may linger if you water normally.

Mulching is, of course, a great help - but not with a marble slab if you
want to encourage blue flowers.

A seep hose (what Sacha was describing) is a good idea, too, but its
efficacy may suffer if the soil compacts, just as with normal watering. One
solution to this may simply be gently forking over the soil periodically.

Spider