Hi, today I’m gonna help you to keep your indoor hydrangea outside and enjoy its showy blooms. As I told you in my previous post, indoor hydrangeas are different from gardening types, however, they are not real houseplants.
Actually, indoor hydrangeas are raised to be temporary, which means they were not developed with outdoor performance in mind. A large number of them are not very cold tolerant and will die in winter in areas colder than USDA zone 7 or 8.
In addition, indoor Hydrangeas cannot thrive well indoors, so, what we must do? I’m here to share my experience with you. I hope by following my tips they last as long as advertised. Let’s get going and follow the below recommendations. I recommend reading my other post “Is there indoor Hydrangea?” to know more about it.
The best bet to keep your indoor hydrangea alive and enjoy it for years is to treat it as a container shrub and overwinter it in a sheltered protected area as I tell you below:
1- From late spring to the end of summer:
- Plant your indoor Hydrangea in a container with proper size and drainage holes which is filled with a mixture of good potting soil and compost.
- Move it to your Balcony or yard with adequate light, some hydrangeas can tolerate full sunlight and others prefer a bright shade place to grow. Most indoor Hydrangea belong to Hydrangea macrophylla and they like bright light but not too much direct sunlight
- Enjoy it for the summer.
- Please note that the buds for flowering and growing in the next year will be set in August of this year.
2- In fall and Winter:
- It will lose its leaves
- Since your indoor hydrangea is sensitive to cold weather, in late fall, put its pot in a larger container or box.
- Fill in between pack insulation material (straw, packing peanuts, etc. )
- Cover the plant with plastic, essentially creating a greenhouse for it.
- Stop or decrease watering to avoid getting water to the roots and freeze.
- Let it go to its dormant cycle for overwintering.
In the Next Spring:
- In late March, bring it outside from its greenhouse
- Allow it to wake up.
- As it comes out of dormancy, the buds (which were produced in the last summer) will begin to swell as it detects spring.
- So once it begins to wake up, and a frost comes, it will kill off any new growth and likely will not produce any blossoms.
- Hence, you must be prepared to cover it again or bring it back into the house if the weather gets 32 degrees or colder. You can cover the pot of your gift hydrangea with a blanket or tablecloth if weather reports call for a frost or freeze.
- The leaves will form at the bottom first and possibly on the bare canes.
- This leaf development will continue from March until May
- The new blooms will be visible in late April and May with full peak blooms in June.
By receiving Fall Again:
- You must follow the above tips for overwintering your indoor hydrangea.
Please let me know if you have any questions, I will answer them as soon as possible.
Elahe Rabiei
Hi, I’m Elaheh. My Academic major is plant protection, and houseplants are my expertise. As a houseplant lover, my house is full of indoor plants and it is my passion to take care of them. Hence, I’m here to share my knowledge and experience about growing healthy houseplants. I am also a plant protection advisor, so feel free to ask me any questions you may have.