Yes water, No sunshine
Yes, I kept thinking its name is hydra-something - HYDRANGEA that is!!Is it supposed to be a difficult plant?? This little plant has been living/blooming happily in our apartment for almost a month already and seems to be doing okay. I got it as a gift and the only advice I got is to water the plant - putting the pot in a sink filled with water to let the water soak up to the soil - twice a week. I am trying to water it every Wednesday and Saturday but there were times that I thought the plant was dying on me as its leaves were drooping due to dehydration or something. Sometimes the soil dried out faster, sometimes I simply forgot to water it...
When it happened the first time (I forgot to draw the curtain so the plant was sun-baked for hours and looked all "dead" when I returned home), I almost tossed it to the trash. But since that was only the 4th day I got the plant and I thought I just started to have a better green thumb, in order to save the plant and my reputation, I performed "CPR" by soaking the pot in a big tank of water and putting some coffee grounds in the soil. Why coffee grounds?? My green-thumbed friend told me that my "blue balls" love acidic soil ("pink balls" work differently though) and suggested me to use aluminium sulphate (or sulfate??), egg shells or coffee grounds to boost the blooming. I had no freaking idea where to find aluminium sulphate and was afraid egg shells would stink up our place so I ended up with coffee grounds. And you know what?? It worked!! Lesson learned - "Blue balls" love water and acidic soil, but hate sunshine!!
You know what worries me now?? Weird to say but I am now worried that the plant is living too long. I got this plant in late April and thought it would be long gone before our summer vacation in late June (FYI, my plants tend to live for only a month though I start to earn a reputation of having a not-too-bad green thumb). Since my little hydrangea has been blooming slowly, I am afraid we may need to find a baby(plant)-sitter to take care of my "blue balls" while my man and I are tanning our butts off in Malaysia. I'm thinking of putting the hydrangea pot, together with my lucky bamboo, in a water tank so they have enough water when I am gone for three weeks. Do you think that would work?? If not, any good plant-sitter to recommend??
By the way, why the heck am I awake at 7am today when I'm having a long weekend?! Jeez, it has been rainy and grey for almost two weeks already...Rain rain, go away. Little Penny wants to play...
posted by Miss Bad Penny at
07:58
3 comment(s):
I don't know much about plant care, but I do know that my mom's hydrangeas start to bloom in early spring and they seem to bloom for a long time, at least here in Arkansas. Also, did you know that the color of the blooms depends on the soil? You can actually change the color by changing the soil.
By
SlushTurtle, at
4:00 PM, May 26, 2006
Thanks for the comments girl :) I love your hydrangea. I have tonnes of plants - just basic house plants. I don't think I have a green thumb, the ones I have are just pretty easy to take care of. Ya know my grandma always put eggshells in the soil of the plants. Would just dry them and smush them up. So I started doing that even though I had no idea why. But now I do! Although I'm not sure my type of plants actually like acidic soil...
By
Speedy, at
10:15 PM, May 26, 2006
I didn't know that I could change the color by changing the soil. Since there are blue, pink and white hydrangea available in the market, I thought there were simply three different kinds of seed...
Then I'd better remember not to change the soil because I just love this blue/lavender color. Love love loving it!!
By
Miss Bad Penny, at
6:55 AM, May 27, 2006
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