The beautiful hydrangea delighted you with impressive flowers this year, but now the season is over. As a newcomer to plant care, you may be worried about the coming winter and how your garden hydrangea will be able to survive it or whether and how you can support it. With our tips this will be child's play and you will enjoy a large display of flowers again next year. We explain how you can overwinter hydrangeas in the garden.
Hydrangeas overwinter in the garden - Is the hydrangea hardy?
In contrast to potted plants, hydrangeas are relatively hardy in beds, but under certain conditions. On the one hand, it depends on the species, because some are less frost-resistant, others more. This is due, among other things, to the increasing interest in growing hydrangeas as container plants. As a result, winter hardiness is no longer a priority for growers. This is particularly true for some plate and farmer hydrangeas, while climbing hydrangeas, panicle hydrangeas, forest hydrangeas, garden hydrangeas and Japanese hydrangeas can withstand frost particularly well.
Tipp: Shade-loving varieties are more winter-hardy, while those that prefer full sun are more sensitive to cold.
On the other hand, the region or the winter itself also plays a role. If it is particularly cold (with nights below minus 20 degrees), then the plant needs a little support to get through the cold season.
Last but not least, age is also crucial. The younger your garden hydrangea is, the more it needs additional protection. If you have just planted them, especially!
After we have already explained to you how to do theOverwinter pot hydrangeas properly, we would now like to give you a few tips on how to overwinter hydrangeas in the garden. How to proceed:
How do I overwinter hydrangeas?
If you want to be on the safe side, you can even use one for the particularly hardy varietiesUse winter protection. This certainly won't do any damage. But you want hydrangeasoverwinter in the gardenin the bed, the preparation of the bushes is also of great importance. Let's summarize the most important things:
Hydrangeas overwinter in the garden – prepare the garden hydrangea
Before you start winter protection, it is important that you prepare the garden hydrangea. This is the only way hydrangeas can overwinter in the garden without being damaged:
- Some varieties even bloom in autumn and as long as this flowering period lasts, you don't need to worry about winter protection. Once these have wilted, cut them off.
- Cut off dried parts of the plant.
- Also, rake up any fallen leaves regularly to prevent fungal growth caused by the high humidity in autumn.
- Normally all leaves should have fallen off the bush by winter. However, if autumn suddenly turns into winter instead of gradually, it may be necessary to help by picking them off.
- Continue to leave the soilnotdry out, but keep them moist until the first frost.
- Stop fertilizing in the fall, as this would promote growth and anything that sprouts in the fall can freeze in the winter. And the older parts of the plant usually also suffer damage.
How to protect the plant with the right winter protection
When you read about winter protection, please don't think about a big hassle. On the contrary, the plants only need a small amount of protection and usually only for safety reasons. What should you do to ensure that your hydrangeas overwinter successfully in the garden?
All you have to do is:
- Distribute insulating material around the plant, i.e. above the roots, with a layer of around 20 cm above the root neck being optimal. You can choose between bark mulch, garden soil, compost, peat and brushwood.
- to protect the shoots if yourPruning hydrangeas in autumn. Because the plant is now sprouting, these are particularly sensitive parts of the plant that would most likely be damaged by frost. For small bushes, you can simply place burlap or plant fleece over the plants at night.
Notice: Even very large bushes are difficult or impossible to cover with linen. It is therefore advisable to wait until spring before pruning.
