How to Turn Pink Hydrangeas Blue

Hydrangeas come in many beautiful colors from green to white, pink, and blue. The color is largely dependent on the ph balance of your soil. Mixing a few simple ingredients into your soil can yield dramatically different results. If you're tired of your pink hydrangeas, and would like to turn them into blue, then follow these easy steps!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sphagnum peat moss
• Aluminum sulfate

1. As I mentioned earlier, the color of your hydrangeas is largely determined by the ph balance of your soil. An acidic soil is that with a ph of roughly 5.2 to 5.5. This will bring on the blue hues. A soil ph above 6 encourages the pink blooms to grow. To make your soil more acidic you need to mix your soil 50/50 with sphagnum peat moss. If you already have planted pink hydrangeas, you will need to dig them up, mix up your soil, and then replant them.

2. If you've purchased a quantity of pink, and decided that you would like to add blue, just add the 50/50 mixture to the area of your garden that you would like to see blue, and plant accordingly.

3. After planting, make a yearly application of aluminum sulfate to the soil. You can purchase it at your local garden center. Be sure to follow the instructions on the package carefully. Within a few years time, your pink blooms will be a lovely shade of blue. Hydrangeas love water, so be sure to saturate them on a regular basis.

Tips & Warnings

• For beautiful blooms next year, only prune the stems that produced flowers this year.

Resources

• eHow Home and Garden Topic Guide