April 2012

In mid march we experienced a week of warm weather. With temps in the 80's to high 70's all the hydrangeas broke dormancy they must have thought it was summer! This of course was followed by a quick drop in temp. We were back to 40's with night lows in the mid 20's for several days/nights. My outdoor cuttings suffered, 3 of 4 had severe damaged, killed all the buds. The only one that survived was under a couple of inches of mulch. Lesson learned, cover and cover well. I keep watering all the cuttings. Never know when one of the presumably dead ones will come back.

I have been a bit negligent. I have been busy with the veggie garden. Seed starting and ordering more seeds has been exciting. My DD has so much fun seeing her seeds grow.

The indoor cuttings suffered some negligence as well. I have lost an additional cutting to lack of watering. Only two cuttings have survived and I am hardening them off. They have been outdoors in the shade for two days. I will let direct sun hit them soon.

Winter cuttings: outdoor vs indoor

Outdoor: 1 of 4 survived

Indoor: 2 of 5 survived

If I had covered the outdoor cuttings well with mulch I am certain that all if not most would have survived. If I had watered the indoor cuttings well I most definitely could have had 3 of 5 survive.