The New Hydrangea Bed

I planted the new hydrangea bed today. This is the bed I set up back on Aug. 9th (See "New Bed") with newspaper and wood chips.  I dug my 3 non-blooming hydrangeas and planted them alongside the new hydrangea I planted in August. (See "August Plantings")  The ground beneath the chips was soft and "dig-able" to about 10 inches.  Then it seemed to change to a hard-packed gravel soil.  The digging was work!  But I kept at it and finally got them settled into their new homes.

I decided to cage and mulch them right away. This bed is on the nightly deer trail, and the deer have already shown me that they find hydrangeas tasty.  The deer have been nibbling away at the August planting, even after I twisted tin foil around all the branches.  It's not pleasant to bite into tin foil, and this trick has help me discourage deer in the past.  However, maybe they are getting wise to my ways, because this time it has not stopped them. Out came the wire fencing, and once I circled the bushes, I added dried leaves for mulch.  I'll add more leaves as the season progresses.  The mulching serves two purposes: protection from deer and the winter cold.

Will all this effort get me blooming hydrangeas?  Who knows? I'm hopeful though I'm not sure why. I guess that's one of the allures of gardening. The gardener is always searching for the right conditions, the right home, to help a plant flourish.  Success is exciting; failure... well, just try something else.