In cold regions and in exposed locations, you can help your farmer's hydrangeas over the winter with some protection.
How can you protect farmer's hydrangeas in winter?
To protect farmer's hydrangeas in winter, cover them with bark mulch or leaves, use a leaf litter, cover the plant with raffia mats and/or fill additional leaves in between. Potted plants should overwinter in a frost-free, cool and bright room.
Flowering threatened by frost
Farmer's hydrangeas are one of the Hydrangea species that bloom on the previous year's wood and form the flower buds for the following year in the previous late summer. At the same time, this means that these flower buds are at risk from winter frosts and therefore need to be protected - even if the farmer's hydrangea itself is actually hardy. Otherwise the flower will fail the following year.
Effective winter protection for farmer's hydrangeas
For sensible winter protection, carefully cover the plants with bark mulch or leaves in winter, with a thick and dry layer of leaves offering the best protection. To do this, set up a frame made of wire mesh around the plant and pour plenty of leaves, which can also be mixed with straw, into it. You can also cover farmer's hydrangeas with raffia mats (€18.00 on Amazon). Here too, leaves thrown in between provide additional protection from the cold.
Tips & Tricks
Farmer hydrangeas grown in pots should not overwinter outdoors as the root ball freezes too quickly. It makes more sense to overwinter frost-free but cool and bright.
