Jdy 81, 1308. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



11 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



THE HYDRANGEA AS A HARDY SHRUB. 



^rLAD am I to see that Mr. 

 McDonald has called atten- 

 tion (page K), to the cultiva- 

 tion for out-door decoration 

 of this highly ornamental 

 plant, for it has hitherto been 

 more neglected than it ought to have been. Some persons, 

 perhaps, may have thought it too tender, and in conse- 

 quence disregarded it, wlnle others, having only an indif- 

 ferent situation, have unjustly condemned it because a hard 

 winter killed it to the ground. 



Probably the most successful cultivators of tho Hy- 

 drangea are those cottagers who have turned out an over- 

 grown pot plant in some snug corner, where it tlirives and 

 flowers year after year with a vigour which only plants in 

 suitable positions acquire. More rarely it is met with in 

 some shrubbery, or near a residence built a century or 

 more ago ; but if it is employed as an ornamental object it 

 is too often merely brought forward when in (lower, and 

 taken away when its beauties are on the decline ; yet few 

 plants look so well as a well-grown specimen of Hydrangea, 

 whether it bloom pink or green, and no plant with which 

 I am acquainted is more easily managed, or, rather, does 

 better when left alone. Some villages, I may remark, 

 derive much of their beauty from the number of specimens 

 of this plant by which the front gardens are ornamented, 

 and these cases might easily be multiplied. 



Like Mr. McDonald I certainly recommend Hydrangea 

 hortensis most, but would nevertheless now and then have 

 a plant of H. japonica as well. A year or two ago a gen- 

 tleman brought me a bloom of the latter gathored in a 

 villa garden a few miles from Tunbridge Weils, and which 

 was of the most lovely blue, more so than I ever remember 

 to have seen in tho Hydrangea hortensis, the buds in the 

 interior of the corymb being equally good in colour with 

 the expanded marginal flowers, and in size and other 

 features it was all that was wanted. The district is, I 

 believe, famous for Hydrangeas, and I can testify to the 

 robust appearance of the plants, but have not seen them 

 in flower. The soil is a sort of yellow sandy loam, on 

 which the wild Heath may now and then be met with, and 

 where Rhu^Klendrons thrive well. It cannot be called a 

 peat, nevertheless but one of those intermediate soils which 

 suit a large number of plants, and I am told that both 

 pink and blue Hydrangea flowers are produced upon it. 

 There is no stagnant water, and the subsoil is open, porous, 

 and accessible to the roots of trees to a good depth, but 

 turf and shallow-rooted plants suffer much from drought. 



It is obvious by the appearance of the plants thai shade 

 is of much service to the Hydrangea, as the best foliage 

 is always met with in shaded places ; but the plant will 



No, 279.— Vol. XI., New Series. 



accommodate itself to a sunny situation, and is often met 

 with hi such, as well as in all' lands of soils and positions, 

 damp and dry, sunny and shady. It is, besides, much 

 more hardy than is often supposed. One of the largest 

 plants I ever remember seeing was in a garden situated 

 only a few miles south of tho Tweed, upwards of twenty 

 miles from the coast, and as bleak as could well be imagined. 

 There was, however, a little shelter on the north side of 

 the garden, but the Hydrangea was in no way beneiited 

 by the walls or other skelter. The situation was dry. ;uul 

 the substratum a sort of freestone shatter, resting on deep 

 beds of that material. The flowers were pink. If this plant 

 has continued to flourish it must Be a magnificent speci- 

 men now, for at the time I saw it, several years previous 

 to 1830, it must have been from 10 to 12 feet in diameter. 

 The Hydrangea does not seem disposed to attain a con- 

 siderable height, but rather to spread along the ground, 

 and it is seldom that I have met with one more than 5 or 

 (i feet high unless supported by artificial means. In this 

 ivspcct it differs much from the Fuchsia ; where the hardy 

 kinds of the latter endure our winters they present a much 

 more upright shrub than the Hydrangea, and like it they 

 are deserving of more attention than they usually receive. 

 The positions suitable for these hardy Fuchsias, however, 

 diner much from that best adapted for the Hydrangea. 

 A dry stony soil in the full sun, and where the substratum 

 will allow the roots to descend a great depth, suits them 

 best. Some that we have here scaicely lost their tips 

 last winter, and they flowered early and well ; but they 

 usually lose some unripened wood, and consequently do 

 not bloom so early. Extraordinarily bard winters will, 

 however, tell on these plants, but it is no* several years 

 since the main stems were cut down. Returning, however, 

 to the Hydrangea, I may state that hitherto we have not 

 been so successful with it. The position allotted to it 

 seems to have been too dry; the flowers are produced 

 pleantifully enough, but it is distressing to see them droop 

 in a very dry period, when watering by hand is out of the 

 question. 



The variegated variety of HydYangea seems to be a 

 sport of H. japonica. I find, however, that when planted 

 out of doors it loses much of tho whiteness which renders 

 it useful as a plant for forcing, and, consequently, it is of 

 less importance outside than could be wished ( >f the 

 other Hydrangeas I have not had sufficient experience to 

 give an opinion, but one called II. arboreseens seems Dot to 

 be worth growing. While-we have Hydrangea bo I msis 

 exhibiting itself in different colours, verv often in a way 

 that seems approaching caprieiousness (for sametxm is one 

 half of a plant will flower blue and the other pin I, we 

 have an important field for inquiry, and it is evil .,; hat 

 the causes which produce this are far from being fully 

 understood, and nothing but a more extensive cu'lturt OT 

 the plant under various circumstances will fumisla decisive 

 proof of the causes of its flowers changing their colour. 

 At the same time let it be fully understood that experi- 

 ments with tliis plant will in general be more satisfactory 

 if carried out in the open ground instead of in pots, because 

 in the latter the potting mixture mav have its properties 



No. 831.— Vol. XXXVI., Old Si rles. 



