Plate hydrangea, Hydrangea serrata - plants and care

• particularities
• grow
• maintenance

The plate hydrangea is almost a farmer's hydrangea, so closely related to it, and there are also cultivar varieties with plate-shaped flowers in the farm hydrangeas. But it has its advantages that you should get to know.

The plate hydrangea fights for its own popularity, because it looks filigree and natural than the large-flowered relatives and naturalness in our gardens is becoming more of a trend and is even easier to plant and maintain:

particularities

Hydrangea serrata used to be classified as a subspecies of the hydrangea macrophylla or hydrangea Hydrangea macrophylla var. Serrata. Some researchers have always believed that they are their own species, in 2004, this assessment was confirmed by DNA studies, since the plate hydrangea confidently called "hydrangea serrata". Visually pretty good to understand, because it has a very different foliage than the Hydrangea macrophylla, the leaves are narrower and longer and look more elegant.

The flowers also differ quite clearly from those of the ordinary farm hydrangeas: A rather large inner surface is surrounded by exceptionally large pseudobulbs, which often stand only isolated and thus form a more or less loose wreath around the fertile inner flowers. This double flower also stands out so much from the stereotypical flower ball of the farmer's hydrangea, because it is usually two-colored.

The plate hydrangea remains smaller than the farmer hydrangea, in plant height, stem strength, leaf size and flowering. It grows very compact to about one meter in height, this hydrangea finds its place even in the smallest front garden.

The most interesting difference between plate hydrangea and farmer hydrangea for German gardeners concerns the hardiness of the winter: as a grown-up hydrangea USDA hardiness zone 6 is reached, mature hydrangeas are considered safe for this USDA hardiness zone and should be winter harder than farm hydrangeas. With winter protection they should even thrive in USDA hardiness zone 5, possibly lose buds or shoots, but expel them again.

Hint: So far properties have been named that qualify the H. serrata as a good hydrangea for German gardens, but under the plate hydrangea is also the true super hydrangea hides: Hydrangea serrata, Oamacha ', Japanese tea hydrangea, the nectar for bees and " Nectar for Buddha "is produced from their leaves namely a delicious, natural sweet tea cooked.

grow

There's another reason why the plate hydrangea can fit in the smallest front yard: it has developed as undergrowth of trees in mountain forests, and this undergrowth always grows in the shade for part of the day, as the sun rises diagonally on the mountain.

Therefore, the leaf hydrangea tolerates (and needs) more shade than the flower hydrangea, whose ancestors have evolved as undergrowth of trees that grow in flat (coastal) forests. Plate hydrangea can therefore be planted in the last shady corner where no plant has ever produced flowers.

Otherwise, planting a plate hydrangea works like any other hydrangea, here in a nutshell:

• (Half) shady to occasionally sunny location
• Nutrient-rich, humus-rich soil
• The location should offer a little wind protection
• Dig a planting hole that is twice the size of the root ball in its overall diameter
• When the soil is compacted, it should be loosened on the sides and bottom of the planting hole
• Water and root well well, not deeper than in the pot
• Fill plant hole with soil, sprinkle, after a few days ev
• The best time to plant is spring, from when no frost is expected

Tip: If you buy somewhere from a discount store, where plants are not marked with botanical names, you can not always be sure of a hydrangea with rose petals, whether it's a plate hydrangea or a farm hydrangea.

Often, however, a variety name is given, the following varieties are only available with plate hydrangeas:

• acuminata
• Bluebird
• bluesky
• Graywood
• Intermedia
• Lanarth
• Miyama-yae-murasaki
• Rosalba
• tare
• Veerle

maintenance

The plate hydrangea gets the same care as standard garden hydrangea, is at most a little easier to satisfy:

• Keep thoroughly moist until it is deeply rooted
• In case of summer heat, pay attention to sufficient irrigation, possibly pour in the morning and in the evening
• Cover soil around the root with bark mulch, stores moisture and protects in winter.
• Fertilization takes place with green plant fertilizer NPK 7/3/6
• In the garden at the beginning of the season and at the beginning of flowering long-term fertilizer
• In the bucket in the growing season from sprouting up to twice a month liquid fertilizer
• The slowly growing plate hydrangeas need hardly be cut
• They should go into the winter especially as young plants with all new shoots and even withered flowers
• In spring, damaged shoots are removed in winter
• And if necessary, remove the old flowers under which the new buds have developed since last fall
• Trim fanatics can immediately wilt out withered flowers while wilting
• Immediately after flowering, you can also shape the plant by cutting it, should it become necessary
• Otherwise applies for trimming:
  • When temperatures settle at around 15 ° C in late summer, the bud plant will start growing for the next year - any shoot that is then pruned will not be able to flower in the next year