When “Gardening in
Georgia” host Walter Reeves showed how to change the color of
hydrangea flowers a few weeks ago, you may have thought that was
all there was. You were wrong. On this week’s show July 4 and 7,
Reeves has more about these prolific bloomers.

“Gardening in Georgia” airs on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. and is
rebroadcast on Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. on Georgia Public Television.
The show is produced specifically for Georgia gardeners by the
University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and GPTV. To learn
more, visit the show’s Web
site.

This week, Reeves shows off some hydrangeas with flower forms
unlike the familiar mophead, including “Teller Red,” “Preziosa”
and “Cardinal Red.”

A Georgia Native

Guest Parker Andes of Callaway Gardens
points out the oakleaf hydrangea. A Georgia native, it uses
little water and grows in either sun or shade. The big flowers
are infertile but attract pollinators to the fertile flowers
growing below them.

Reeves also reveals how easy it is to propagate a hydrangea in
summer. He bends a limb to the earth and wounds a small section,
then dusts the wound with a rooting hormone and buries the branch
in the soil. A brick holds it in place. Three months later, the
limb will have rooted in place.

Cobb County Extension Agent Nina Eckberg explains why you should
use mulch: fewer weeds, consistent soil temperatures and
retention of soil moisture. She shows mulches that gardeners can
use and how to apply them: 2 to 4 inches deep, but not against
the trunk or bark.

A Flower Tower

Helen Phillips of Callaway Gardens shows how she recycled a piece
of 8-inch PVC pipe to create a flower tower. She drilled 2-inch
holes in the side and anchored it in a pan of concrete. Then she
hung a short soaker hose in the middle as soil is added to fill
the pipe. Plants such as nasturtium and petunia can be planted in
the holes.

CAES horticulturist Jim Midcap describes the Trident maple
(Acer buergeranum), a 1998 Georgia Gold
Medal Winner.

And finally, CAES entomologist Beverly Sparks describes the life
cycle and control of the armored scale. That armored covering is
hard for predators, adverse weather and even pesticides to
penetrate.