Hydrangea Magic Moonlight is very popular among gardeners. This culture is often used in landscape design and is able to withstand even harsh climatic conditions. To succeed in growing this plant, you need to properly plant, and then provide him with quality care. A detailed description of all procedures is given below.
Description of Hydrangea Magic Moonlight variety and its characteristics
Hydrangea Moonlight is a beautiful culture adorned with lush inflorescences. Due to this, it is often used to design flower beds and create hedges.
Hydrangea has excellent decorative properties.
History of occurrence
The plant got its name due to the similarity of blossoming inflorescences with moonlight. This is a fairly large shrub that has excellent decorative properties and has a long flowering period.
For reference! The official name of the plant is: Hydrangea Paniculata Magical Moonlight.
Grade Features
Panicled Hydrangea Magic Moonlight is a straight bush that is rapidly developing and can reach a height of 2 m. It can also be formed in the form of a small tree up to 3 m in size. Strong shoots that grow vertically and a dense crown are spherical in shape.
Branches adorn hard egg-shaped leaves. They have a rough texture and are covered with veins. During flowering, which lasts from July to October, large inflorescences 20-40 cm in size appear on the bushes. At the initial stage of development, they have a rounded shape, and then become elongated.
The brushes are quite voluminous and include many densely arranged flowers. Their shade depends on the period. Initially, the inflorescences have a lemon-green color. By autumn, they become snow-white. The formation of flowers occurs on young branches of the current year.
Plant buds are able to change their color
Winter hardiness
The undoubted advantage of culture is its high resistance to frost.
The description of the plant says that it is able to withstand a temperature drop of -29 degrees. The adult hydrangea bush Magic Moonlight can survive the winter without shelter.
Important!Young plants must be insulated - for this you need to mulch the trunk circle and cover the branches with burlap.
Planting and further care of the hydrangea Magic Moonlight
So that panicle hydrangea Moonlight grows well and flourishes, it is important to correctly conduct planting work.
Site selection and preparation
When choosing a place, do not give preference to an open sunny area. If you plant a plant in the shade, its color will remain greenish. In this case, the shade of the flowers will practically not change. Therefore, the bushes should be planted in partial shade. It is important that in this place the same periods of illumination and shading are observed. And also the site should have protection against gusts of wind.
For planting a crop, loose and slightly acidic soil is suitable. It is advisable that it be wet enough. For planting, it is recommended to use three-year seedlings.
Important! It is not recommended to plant hydrangea in sandy or too calcified soil - in such conditions there is a risk of culture death.
How to plant hydrangea
Landing work is recommended in spring or autumn. At the same time, spring planting is considered more preferable. In this case, the culture adapts much faster to new conditions. One month before planting, dig up the soil and feed it with compost.
The size of the pits depends on the development of the roots. It is important that they fit completely into the recess and do not twist. If you plan to plant several bushes, it is worth observing an interval of 2 m. Otherwise, there is a risk of inhibiting their development. If you plan to create a hedge, the gap should be 1 m.
When planting, the seedling must be installed in the recess, straighten the roots and sprinkle it with earth. Then the soil should be well compacted and watered. 1 plant requires 10-12 liters of water. At the end, the trunk circle should be covered with a mulching layer. Peat is best for this purpose. The thickness of the mulch should be approximately 7 cm.
Watering and feeding
During the first month after planting, the culture needs to be watered every day. Then the amount of watering should be reduced. The frequency of procedures depends on the characteristics of the soil. It is important to ensure that the top coat is not dry. If mulching is not carried out, the soil must be loosened to a depth of at least 5 cm.
Culture needs to be moistened and loosened in a timely manner
Hydrangea should be fed twice:
- In spring, fertilizers help activate the vegetation process. At this stage, it is worth adding a urea solution. To do this, take 20 g of the product in 10 liters of water. Under a young bush, pour 1 bucket of fertilizer. An adult culture will require 2 buckets. Fertilize the plant at the stage of bud formation.
- In summer, top dressing helps to improve hydrangea flowering. In this case, a composition based on potassium sulfate, urea and superphosphate should be used. All ingredients must be taken in equal parts - 30 g each. The mixture must be mixed with a bucket of water and poured under a hydrangea bush.
Important! Sometimes the plant is fertilized again. This is done in late autumn. To do this, under the bushes you need to lay out organic products - manure or compost. This helps provide the crop with nutrients in early spring.
Pruning
To maintain the fine decorative properties of the culture, it requires high-quality trimming. This procedure provides magnificent flowering, helps to increase the number of flowers and prevents fungal infections.
In early spring, sanitary pruning is carried out. During the procedure, you should get rid of dry and old branches. Formative procedure is performed in 2 stages:
- in autumn, the bush needs to be cleaned of inflorescences, weakened and diseased branches;
- in spring, before flowering begins, thin out the bush by pruning shoots that are inward or broken after winter.
Winter preparations
If hydrangea grows in the southern region, you can not hide it for the winter. When cultivating a plant in a more severe climate, it is worth insulating it. You need to prepare the bush for winter in several successive stages:
- In autumn, the bush should be abundantly watered and cover the trunk circle with mulch.
- A few days before the expected frosts, the shoots should be wrapped in burlap or other material. It must let air through.
- At a height of 30 cm it is worth making a frame. It needs to be made from a grid.
- The space between the insulation and the mesh must be filled with dry foliage.
- It is recommended to place a film on top. Such a shelter provides reliable protection against frost and ice.
Breeding
Hydrangea should be propagated by seeds or in a vegetative way. Moreover, the seed method is practically not used for breeding varietal varieties of bushes. Its main purpose is to obtain new varieties.
Therefore, at home, flower growers propagate hydrangea by vegetative methods. The simplest and fastest way is considered to be cuttings.
- In early May, cuttings with a size of 10-15 cm should be cut. They should contain at least 2 buds.
- Then you need to make a nutrient substrate based on sand and peat.
- Planting material must be moistened in Kornevin and placed in a substrate.
- Further, the containers are best moved to a cool and shaded place.
The first roots form after 20 days. After this, the culture can be planted in a permanent place.
It is also permissible to propagate hydrangea by layering. To do this, take a long shoot, bend it to the ground, fix and sprinkle with soil. At the end of the season, roots will form. At this stage, the daughter plant needs to be separated from the mother and transplanted.
In this case, the most affordable way is to divide the bush. To do this, in the spring or autumn, the bush needs to be dug up and cut into several fragments. Each part should contain at least 3 kidneys.
Hydrangea should be propagated by vegetative methods
Diseases, pests and means of controlling them
Sometimes the plant is faced with the development of gray rot. In this case, the branches are covered with brown spots. With increased humidity, they turn gray. To cope with the pathology, you need to remove the affected fragments and sprinkle all hydrangea with fungicides.
Powdery mildew may be another problem. Pathology is accompanied by the appearance of white plaque on foliage and shoots. Coping with the disease will help the removal of branches and leaves. It is also necessary to use fungicides.
Important!Of the pests, the bushes suffer from ticks, aphids, snails, weevils. To cope with them, it is worth using a soap solution, and with a serious attack, chemical insecticides.
Use in landscape design
The plant is often used to decorate garden plots. From it you can make a hedge or flowerbed. Hydrangea is also great for single plantings.
The undoubted advantage of the plant is its ability to change the color of the buds. By autumn, most of the flowers acquire a pinkish tint and the hydrangea bush looks very impressive.
Bushes are often used to design plots.
Hydrangea Magical Moonlight is a beautiful culture that is often used to decorate summer cottages. In order for the plant to bloom luxuriantly and abundantly, it needs to provide full and high-quality care. It includes timely watering, fertilizing, pruning. Of great importance is the protection of bushes from diseases and parasites.
