Made in the shade: Hydrangeas can light up the darker areas of your garden.
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Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.
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Shady areas are often considered problem spots for bringing colour into the garden; this is due to competing upper canopy plants, heavier soils not drying out or simply the lack of light.
One plant that generally does well in this type of position is the much-loved hydrangea with its bright blue, purple, white, pink or red flowers and the bonus of beautifully textured foliage.
They also come in a range of flowering forms, with flat sprays, pinnacles and ball-type flowers all popular.
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This week, we have had a delivery of the best ball-flowered hydrangeas we have had in all the years in the garden centre. They are covered in bud and flowers, some being 250mm across, and are lovely, compact, bushy plants in 200mm pots.
This type of hydrangea is known as hydrangea macrophylla and is native to Japan; it will grow to about 1.5m to 2m high. These plants love a dappled sun or a shady spot and will compete well with the roots from most overhead trees.
You can manipulate the colour of hydrangea macrophylla flowers by adjusting the pH of the soil. Plants growing in a low pH soil of around 4.5 to 5.0 will produce a deep blue flower, and plants in higher pH soils, 6.5 to 7, will produce lipstick pink to crimson flowers.
The flowers will drift through various shades of these two colours as the pH increases or decreases. That being said, white-flowered hydrangeas will remain white at any pH level.
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The soil pH can be altered quickly enough, though, to achieve the colour you want in the blue and pink flowering ones, but you are probably best to bring a small sample of soil into the garden centre to be tested.
We can then advise you on how best to adjust the level, what and how much to use and how to apply it to achieve the result you are looking for.
Hydrangeas enjoy rich open soil, so add plenty of organic matter when planting and mulch around them to keep them happy. Deep watering is best to help them compete with the roots of other plants, and because they grow so quickly, be sure to give them regular feed.
Plants that work well with hydrangea include New Guinea impatiens, azaleas, begonia, hellebores, heuchera, ligularia or variegated aucuba. All these thrive in similar growing conditions and offer texture and colour that will complement your hydrangea.
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