If you LOVE hydrangea season as much as I do, I’m sure you love bringing these perfect blooms inside to display in a vase or to use as a beautiful centerpiece in a tablescape. Well I have a really simple trick to keep fresh hydrangeas indoors last for WEEKS (or even months!). And when I say simple, I mean almost too simple. You just need to be a bit strategic with planning!
*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. All opinions and recommendations are my own.
How To Keep Hydrangeas Indoors Last A Long Time
I’m sure if you’re an avid gardener, you might’ve discovered this trick on your own at one point or another, but I honestly discovered it on accident! First of all, you know I love gardening, and I have many hydrangeas in our garden- Incrediball Hydrangeas, Gatsby Gal Oakleaf Hydrangeas, Limelight Hydrangeas, Bloomstruck Hydrangeas, and Endless Summer Hydrangeas, to name a few!
Well, I was gifted hydrangeas for my birthday, in which I thought was a large hydrangea arrangement, but as days went on I realized the blooms still looked GREAT and I better change the water, but to my surprise it was an actual hydrangea plant! (Not just cut blooms). (Yes, having 6 young kids including a 15 month old who still wakes up 3 times per night will make you miss these sort of details!).
Our weather took a turn and it was too chilly to do any planting outside, so I figured I might as well keep the hydrangea plant inside, looking all pretty on our dining table for a bit longer. Well, it has been almost SIX WEEKS and the blooms still look beautiful!
So the trick to keeping hydrangeas indoors and having their blooms last a long time is to actually buy a small, bloomed hydrangea plant to keep inside!
I’ll go into a bit more details here…
Will A Hydrangea Plant Last Longer Indoors Than Cut Hydrangea Blooms?
YES! Any time you have cut flowers, you essentially cut it from it’s “root source”, where all the nutrients help a plant grow and thrive. While cut flowers placed in water helps blooms last once cut, they still typically don’t last longer than a few days to maybe a week or so (depending on which blooms you’ve cut).
The nice thing about keeping the hydrangea blooms connected to its roots in the soil, is that it keeps its energy source, providing hardy and beautiful blooms for a LONG time. Again, the hydrangeas in these pictures are going on week 6 INSIDE, and still going strong. Can you imagine having gorgeous hydrangea blooms as your table centerpiece for months?! Stunning!
Now there are some tips and tricks you need to know in order to pull this off, but it’s easy and worth it!
What Are The Sun And Water Requirements For Keeping Hydrangeas Indoors?
One super easy care tip with keeping a hydrangea plant inside is that it doesn’t require constant water. Lightly watering the soil every 2-3 days is sufficient. If you had freshly cut hydrangea blooms, you would need to change the water often, as with any floral arrangement.
(*You can learn more about cut flower arrangement tips here: Simple Flower Arranging Tips From A Pro Floral Designer and here: 4 Easy Tips For A Whimsical Flower Arrangement )
And on the contrary, if a hydrangea plant is growing outside in the hot sun, it would also need a hefty dose of water because hydrangeas do wilt without getting enough of a drink!
However, when you have a small hydrangea plant indoors, it (most likely) is not getting hit with direct, hot sun constantly. It gets enough sunshine to keep the blooms, but not enough that will make it quench for thirst each day.
Hydrangeas do a very good job of telling you when they need water, as their blooms look droopy and wilted. I’ll touch more on this in a bit!
My hydrangea blooms are kept on the center of our dining table, which is near a North facing window. (About 4 feet from the window). It doesn’t get direct sun, only the bit of daylight that naturally comes in lightly through the window, and surprisingly that has been plenty!
As long as your hydrangea blooms are near a window, you should still have success in keeping your hydrangea blooms last indoors!
Again, adding a bit of water to the soil every 2-3 days is MUCH easier than constantly replacing fresh water in a large cut-flower arrangement!
Do Wilted Hydrangea Blooms Mean The Hydrangea Is Dead?
Nope! Just because life got busy and you forgot to add some water to the potted plant, does NOT mean you killed it. As I mentioned previously, hydrangeas do a great job of telling you that they’re thirsty. If the hydrangea flowers are wilted, it simply means to give them some water.
With 6 young kids, including a 15 month old that STILL wakes up 3 times per night, we’ve let the hydrangea blooms wilt way more often than I’d like to admit. But the good news is that they truly bounce back so easily with a good drink of water. They have looked completely wilted at night, I watered the soil just a bit, and by morning it looks like we have a grand hydrangea arrangement to greet us for breakfast at the dining table!
What Type Of Hydrangeas Will Do Best Indoors?
The most common type of hydrangea that you’ll find pre-bloomed in the spring or early summer, ready to be gifted or planted, are the species “Hydrangea macrophylla”, or more commonly known as “Bigleaf Hydrangeas”. These are the most common hydrangeas used as floral centerpieces, as they don’t require as much sun as a Limelight, and they often come in compact sized containers while still boasting large blooms.
Where Do I Find Potted Hydrangeas? When Is The Best Time To Buy Them?
Local garden nurseries are the best place to find potted hydrangeas. You can even find potted hydrangeas at Home Depot, Lowes, or even Costco if you’re lucky. Although Hydrangeas are summer-blooming flowers (at least in our zone in the North Shore of Chicago), many local garden nurseries will have “forced bloomed” hydrangeas ready to be given as gifts in early springtime.
The hydrangeas that I was gifted on my birthday, April 2nd, were already in full bloom! They may be available as early as Easter, and it’s VERY common for potted hydrangea plants to be force bloomed just prior to Mother’s Day.
If you have a mom in your life that loves to garden, then a potted hydrangea is also a great gift to give! I have mine placed in a wrapped box like shown below, and you can add tissue paper, with a waterproof tissue paper beneath the hydrangea container (so watering the plant won’t soak through!). Wrap a pretty ribbon around it and it makes a lovely gift!
What Hydrangea Plant Size Should I Get?
Remember, if you’re looking to buy a hydrangea plant for blooms that last indoors, you’ll need to buy a “manageable sized” container. Don’t go for a hydrangea plant in a giant container that’s already well established. We’re talking about a small container that won’t overwhelm your space.
Should I Plant The Hydrangeas Eventually?
Because the goal here is to have hydrangea blooms last indoors for a long time, it is not necessarily the best condition indoors to actually have your hydrangea grow. Once you feel like your blooms have had their show for long enough, then be sure to find a nice spot in your garden to plant your hydrangea plant! This way, you’ll enjoy your blooms in the garden year after year.
And here are a few vases that may be wide enough to fit your hydrangea plant! Happy (extended) hydrangea season!
( **If you LOVE all things Home & Garden, including the most gorgeous flowers for your garden, be sure to FOLLOW ALONG ON PINTEREST! )
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Simple Flower Arranging Tips From A Pro Floral Designer
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