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j2017_audio

hydrangeas placement

7 years ago

I recently dig a long and narrow flowerbed along the fence and planted 3 hydrangeas and wondering if I gave them enough space to grow? As the picture shows, the left one is a firelight, the middle one is a limelight, and right one is a littlelime. The space between firelight and limelight is about 10' and there is a clematis in between. the space between limelight and littlelime is about 4'. Please let me your thought, thanks in advance!


Comments (8)

  • 7 years ago

    Limelight gets huge, some who have it report about 8-10 feet unpruned so the space between Limelight and Little Lime may need to be tweaked unless you plan to pruned when the time comes.

    J2017 Audio thanked luis_pr
  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    "narrow": It occured me that in time, the solar lights and the bird bath may have to be moved forward as FL and L get older/taller/wider (both of them are big).

    J2017 Audio thanked luis_pr
  • 7 years ago

    Yes, the bed is way too narrow. At the very least it needs to be the width of the widest growing shrub plus another foot. Since 'Limelight' is easily able to get 8' wide, the bed should be a minimum of 9' deep. And that way you can avoid a single file row of plants, which is never a good look.

    J2017 Audio thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    My thinking is Fire-Light 6 ‘ Limelight 9’ Little lime 5’...I would replace the little lime with another Fire-Light come Fall you will a beautiful LL between two red Fire-lights

    J2017 Audio thanked hyed
  • 7 years ago

    Based on the hydrangea in my yard, I'm thinking you might need more space between the plants themselves and the fence. I pruned it back to the ground last year and it is currently crowding out everything right now. Sadly, I'm going to have to remove it.

    J2017 Audio thanked gigirambles
  • 7 years ago

    thanks for all the comments! looks like the depth is the problem. I can increase the depth and length of the flowerbed but will it be too late to move the plants now? I planted them about 2 months ago and don't want to disturb the plants because them are all carring lots of flower buds right now.

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I would move them early fall. You will sacrifice the tail end of this year’s flowers but they will have time to settle in before winter with shorter days, cooler temperatures and warm soil. Mulch them well and don’t let them get really dry going into winter after moving them. If there is a really hot spell after moving them, give them a bit of extra shade such as a sheet on posts over the shrub. Generally they don’t need much supplemental water if you are in the northern zones, but they shouldn’t dry out for the first few years while they are getting established. They don’t like it soggy, however.

    if you don’t want the entire bed to be the full depth of the lImelight, which should be at least 10’, you can swing the edge wide in a gentle sweeping curve and have the rest of the bed a bit less deep for the Little Lime and Fire Light.

    (Several folks with clay soil have commented that the plants do better if moved in early spring, so if you have clay soil, you might want to move them after spring thaw but before leaf out, but I don’t have much experience with clay soil.)

    J2017 Audio thanked NHBabs z4b-5a NH