CHANGE THE COLOR OF MY HYDRANGER

You get blue flowers if the plant is grown in acid conditions. But I think there is a special hydrangea food preparation that you can buy specially to get blue flowers - maybe ask at your local garden center?

Some hydrangeas are bred for pink flowers and no amount of acid in the soil will turn them blue. Check with the Garden Centre before you shell out on the food

I have heard that rusty nails put into earth around the plant works!!

I bought some hydrangea colourant crystals, from my local garden centre - which contain iron and aluminium - just water them in and the flowers will turn blue - eventually.

It is much easier to change a hydrangea from pink to blue than it is from blue to pink. Changing a hydrangea from pink to blue entails adding aluminum to the soil. Changing from blue to pink means subtracting aluminum from the soil or taking it out of reach of the hydrangea.

White hydrangeas can NOT be changed to pink or blue by the grower. (The Almighty sometimes adds pink and red to blooms as they age).

If you live in a hot climate, it is unlikely you will ever see a "true red" hydrangea. No matter how convincing those pictures in the catalogs are or how much lime is added to the soil, one can only achieve a very deep or dark pink, but not a true red (at least here in the South. I'd love to hear from you if you have a different experience).

One can rarely change the intensity of a color (how strong or pale the color is). The intensity develops for a number of reasons: the heredity of a particular hydrangea variety, weather conditions (hot or cold, humid or dry), health of the plant, and possibly other natural factors. Fertilizing hydrangeas once or twice a year may result in a little more saturated color simply because the health of the plant may be improved. A few varieties of hydrangeas tend more toward the pink or the blue range of colors, but will not retain even this color if soil conditions are not right. -- and there we go hope it is of help --- Ken