Some gardening/lawn questions

[daughtersrus]

I'm not a gardener. I'm the kind of person that puts in perennials so that I don't have to plant every year.

I have two questions for the experts.

1.) I've had a hydrangea for about 10 years now. My neighbor gave it to me and told me that it needs lots of water. We planted in the back of our yard (faces east) right by were the sump pump comes out of the house (it goes into and underground tube and discharges in the back of our yard) so that it will get extra water. Over the past few years,every year the plant gets bigger and bigger but I'm not getting very many blooms. This year, I only have one pink one. I cut it back every spring but I'm not sure if that's what I should be doing.

2.) Last Wednesday when we came back from a weeks vacation, we noticed a ton of small white moths coming up from the grass and plants. This isn't just in our yard but everywhere. DSIL lives about 7 miles from us and she said that she sees them when she walks her dogs. We had one big rain storm while we were gone (about 4 inches in one night) but that was it. The grass was still a little brown in some areas from lack of rain.
Why are we getting these moths and is there anything we can do to get rid of them?

Thanks!

 

[msmayor]

The hydrangea: The lack of blooms is directly caused by you cutting it back in the spring...do NOT do this!! Hydrangeas bloom on "old wood", meaning branches that have at least one year of growth. If you cut it back, you cut off all the "old wood" and will only get "new wood" that will not bloom until next year.

So...next spring, leave it alone until the leaves start coming forth. Then (and only then) look for branches that have no leaf growth at all; those are the ones that can be pruned out to make way for newer growth.


The lawn: sounds like the result of sod webworms. They feed on the grass in the worm stage and then turn into moths (which don't do the damage...its already done in the worm stage).

There are different ways to resolve it; I suggest googling the information for your area.

 

[daughtersrus]

The hydrangea: The lack of blooms is directly caused by you cutting it back in the spring...do NOT do this!! Hydrangeas bloom on "old wood", meaning branches that have at least one year of growth. If you cut it back, you cut off all the "old wood" and will only get "new wood" that will not bloom until next year.

So...next spring, leave it alone until the leaves start coming forth. Then (and only then) look for branches that have no leaf growth at all; those are the ones that can be pruned out to make way for newer growth.
.

Thanks! I was sure that it had to be something that I was doing or not doing. The darn thing is so big that I'm always afraid that if I didn't cut it down, it would be huge. I'm embarrassed to say that the last few years, I had been cutting it back all the way to the ground. Next year, I'll leave it alone and hopefully, I the big flowers will come back.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Here is a site that explains pruning a hydrangea. You cannot prune before the plant blooms in spring as you are cutting off the blooms.

http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/pruning.html

 

[lovesmurfs]

Here is a site that explains pruning a hydrangea. You cannot prune before the plant blooms in spring as you are cutting off the blooms.

http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/pruning.html

Thanks! This thread had me totally confused! I've been cutting my hydrangeas to the ground every fall and haven't had any problems with blooming, ever. I had no idea there were different ways to deal with them!

Re: Moths - http://www.lifeandlawns.com/2008/05/09/lawn-moths-sod-webworms-and-how-to-control-or-eliminate-them/

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Thanks! This thread had me totally confused! I've been cutting my hydrangeas to the ground every fall and haven't had any problems with blooming, ever. I had no idea there were different ways to deal with them!

http://www.lifeandlawns.com/2008/05/09/lawn-moths-sod-webworms-and-how-to-control-or-eliminate-them/

I always go by the usual stand by date and use July 4th as the cut off for pruning evergreens, old wood blooming plants, and pinching back mums for flowering in the fall.