Making Baby Hydrangea Plants

Several years ago we purchased a hydrangea bush.  I always loved them and wanted one but never had room until we moved here.  I had a friend who had a couple varieties and would always have them drying around her home in the fall.  I settled on a variety called Limelight.  It has a light green color as the flowers are forming.  As the flowers become fully formed, they become white with a touch of pink on the ends of the petals.

The flowers start out as lime green.

It is a beautiful bush.  I pick some for drying in the house http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/09/time-to-dry-your-hydrangea-blossoms.html and leave the other blossoms to dry on the plant over the winter.  They turn brown but stand out in the winter.  They look pretty with snow on them.

 
In late winter, while the plant is still dormant, I prune them.  I cut them down to half of their size.  This year I had a friend message me to see if she could have some hydrangea leaves.  She was going to be in town in late April.  She had seen on Facebook how you can take the leaves, cut them in a certain way and root them.  I would have been happy to give her some, but this hydrangea variety has a different type leaf and during the time she could visit, the bush hadn't leafed out completely.

This was the hydrangea on April 25

Since the bush was just beginning to leaf out, I thought I would take some cuttings and see what would happen.  I had cut some in the fall and placed them in dirt over winter.  They began to leaf out but I think I disturbed them too soon.  The roots were very fragile.  If I would do that again, I would leave them undisturbed all summer.  They all produced leaves but one by one they died off.

A little bit of green budding

Around April 29th I cut ten sticks that had just begun budding out.  I placed all of them in a hanging basket and hung them on a shepherd's hook.

At this point I left them undisturbed.  I watered them when there wasn't much rain, but I pretty much left if up to mother nature.  Within two weeks I noticed some growth, but I wasn't sure if it would work.

Here they are in two weeks.  It's looking good.

Here they are over three months later.  The plants look healthy and have grown.  I figured it was time to separate them and pot each one individually.

I searched around for enough empty pots.  I found a couple diapers left over from the grand kids when they were babies.  I kept them for this very reason, potting plants.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/05/diapers-repurposed.html
 I put two of the smaller plants together so I have nine nice sized pots.  The bigger pot has two plants from one of my other varieties called Tardiva Hydrangea.  I used the same method, and I also got nice plants.  The Tardiva Hydrangea is really pretty, but different.  Some of the blossoms open and others do not. 

Tardiva Hydrangea

Hopefully all these plants will make it through the winter.  Only time will tell.