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Gardeners are control freaksGardeners are control freaks, but that's ok. A true epiphany is when you come to the point that you can say, "Hi my name is Sam, I'm a gardener and I have control issues." We want things to look a certain way. The image of the way the yard should look is there just floating around in the back of the mind. The challenge is to manipulate it and crunch it until it one day satisfies all of the senses. But the non-gardener struggles to understand the inner battle gardeners are continuously fighting. I have yet to get my husband to understand why I need to plant a contorted filbert in a specific location and to also understand that he lost control of the yard when he married a horticulturist. I can see the plan in my mind, and I know that is the only plant that will work in that spot. Do you see the control issues coming out yet? The control seems to spawn from the feeling of never being satisfied with what we have because we know that it could always be a little better. But we know if we work harder and adapt we can achieve the goal. It can all be tied in with the 'straight haired girls always want curls' saying. There is one plant especially that is manipulated back and forth by gardeners across the country, and probably just as often as girls change their hair. The Hydrangea macrophylla or the big leaf hydrangeas are a popular plant in Oklahoma landscapes. The release of the 'Endless Summer' hydrangea, which blooms on old and new wood, has only increased the popularity. The large leaves and profusion of blooms are a great boost to any garden. There are some levels of misconception when purchasing one of these hydrangeas though. In the nursery the blooms are a brilliant sky-blue. But when the plant is placed in the Oklahoma soil the blooms turn to a pink color. Not that pink is bad, but it's not blue. And the perfect spot we had planned needed a blue flower--not a pink one. The gardener doesn't like to be tricked into buying a blue plant that later turns into a pink one--they have lost control of the situation! There is a very logical explanation for this transformation that takes place. And once the reasoning behind the change is understood, we are free to manipulate the flowers to our heart's desire. Hydrangeas that have blue or pink blooms have specific color pigments that allow for this manipulation. If a plant has white blooms it lacks the specific pigments and the color can't be changed--so don't waste your time. Aluminum in the soil is what causes the flower to be blue. If the aluminum is taken up by the plant it then binds with the pigments and causes the bloom to express blue shades. Aluminum uptake is controlled by the pH of the soil. Soil pH measures the acidity or alkalinity of the soil. The pH is what determines if a plant can absorb specific elements from the soil. Aluminum is an element that is more available at a lower or more acidic pH. So if the pH can be lowered the aluminum can be taken up and the flower can be manipulated to a blue color. In order to make a soil more acidic sulfur is added. This is why garden centers commonly sell small bags of aluminum sulfate in order to accommodate the blue-seeking hydrangea grower. While this sounds like a simple fix, there is more to the story. While plant available aluminum will turn a hydrangea bloom blue, it can also have a more adverse effect. Aluminum at high levels is toxic to plants. Yes, that is right--what we are adding to a plant to make the bloom a specific color could also kill it if care is not used. There is a fine line between blue flowers and dead plants. The scale of pH ranges from 1.0 to 14.0, with 7.0 being neutral. The lower the number, the more acidic the soil is. The pH that aluminum is available at safe levels is 5.0. But if too much sulfur is added and the pH is dropped to 4.5, aluminum begins to have a negative effect. A safe way to begin experimenting with the pH of your soil is to start out with a soil test. This will give you a starting pH, and provide recommendations about how much sulfur to add. Aluminum is typically already present in the soil, so by simply adding sulfur the pH should drop and the flower should begin to change to blue. If you have added sulfur and taken a soil test to monitor the pH and the blooms are still pink, that would be the time to reach for the aluminum sulfate. In the eastern part of the United States the soils are natively more acidic. This means that the hydrangeas stay naturally blue. They have trouble getting them to stay pink. While in Oklahoma with our natively higher pH levels, we struggle to keep the blooms blue. Us gardeners are just never happy, are we? 5/12/08 Date: 5/2/08 Advertisement
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