The plant "Audrey" from "Little Shop of Horrors" Credit: Wiki Did your hydrangeas whisper "Feed Me" as you admired them today? If not, they should have because it's high time to fertilize your hydrangeas. Although their needs are similar, you fertilize each a bit differently, so let's take them one by one. Your bigleaf hydrangeas ( macrophyllas ) and mountain ( serrata s) should be flowering by now and if they are rebloomers, need encouragement to set up those second set of buds. If they are not rebloomers, they will soon set their buds for next year, so get busy and give them a little love. What might that be? A b asic tree/shrub product with an NPK ratio of 3-1-2, 6-2-4, etc. You might be surprised to learn that rose fertilizer is ideal. Here's just one you might see at a garden center.  Try to avoid using something like 10-10-10 or even 5-5-5. No plant uses nutrients in equal amounts and add...

Time to report on winter's impact on my hydrangeas. In early May, I went out to my Zone 5 garden to see what winter had done to my hydrangeas that bloom on old wood: macrophyllas (big leaf) and hydrangea serratas (mountain). I also checked on the quercifolias (oak leaf) and petiolaris (climbing).   I held my breath, fearing the worst since we had a brutal 2 week spell of cold temperatures to close out 2017 and begin 2018 in southwest CT :