CELEBRATING 28 YEARS! Welcome to My weekly series! THE LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONAL ASK Linda K. Lillie of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K. Lillie has been President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc. for the last 26 years. She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany, an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects. Hi Linda! I was wondering why my blossoms on my Hydrangea are purple this year when the last blossoms were pink. I fertilize with Miracid and thought that may be the reason. How do I keep the blossoms pink? Also, these are supposedly dwarf hydrangea...not to exceed 2 to 3 feet. Do I need to cut them in the fall? If so, how do I go about that? Thank you - Margaret Hi Margaret, The Miracid fertilizer you are using is specifically designed to make the soil more acidic. Acidic soil causes hydrangea flowers to be blue. In order to have pink flowers, this fall you need to add a couple of handfuls of lime to the soil around the outside of the plant (but not under it) and work it into the soil. Water the soil well to help the lime leach into the soil. Add more lime and water in April and again in May. To maintain pink flowers, you should fertilize with Flowertone once a year instead. Flowertone is a slow release, organic, granular fertilizer that will not make the soil acidic. There's no need to cut the hydrangeas in the fall. In the spring, remove all the dead stems at the base of the plant. They should break right off. That's about it. You should not have to prune a dwarf hydrangea at all. Sprigs best Feel free to send me questions you'd like to have me answer and I will do my best to address the ones of most general interest. Email or mail your questions to: info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie, Sprigs & Twigs Inc, PO Box 245. Gales Ferry, CT 0633 WE'RE GOING DIGITAL! SIGN UP USING THE QR & Twigs CODE OR LINK BELOW! WWW.SPRIGSANDTWIGS.NET 860-235-0752 NEVER MISS A THING. ARTICLES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL SO YOU CAN SAVE YOUR FAVORITES & SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS DIRECTLY. https://mailchi.mp/sprigsandtwigs/np-subscribe CELEBRATING 28 YEARS ! Welcome to My weekly series ! THE LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONAL ASK Linda K. Lillie of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K. Lillie has been President of Sprigs & Twigs , Inc. for the last 26 years . She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany , an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional , a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects . Hi Linda ! I was wondering why my blossoms on my Hydrangea are purple this year when the last blossoms were pink . I fertilize with Miracid and thought that may be the reason . How do I keep the blossoms pink ? Also , these are supposedly dwarf hydrangea ... not to exceed 2 to 3 feet . Do I need to cut them in the fall ? If so , how do I go about that ? Thank you - Margaret Hi Margaret , The Miracid fertilizer you are using is specifically designed to make the soil more acidic . Acidic soil causes hydrangea flowers to be blue . In order to have pink flowers , this fall you need to add a couple of handfuls of lime to the soil around the outside of the plant ( but not under it ) and work it into the soil . Water the soil well to help the lime leach into the soil . Add more lime and water in April and again in May . To maintain pink flowers , you should fertilize with Flowertone once a year instead . Flowertone is a slow release , organic , granular fertilizer that will not make the soil acidic . There's no need to cut the hydrangeas in the fall . In the spring , remove all the dead stems at the base of the plant . They should break right off . That's about it . You should not have to prune a dwarf hydrangea at all . Sprigs best Feel free to send me questions you'd like to have me answer and I will do my best to address the ones of most general interest . Email or mail your questions to : info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie , Sprigs & Twigs Inc , PO Box 245 . Gales Ferry , CT 0633 WE'RE GOING DIGITAL ! SIGN UP USING THE QR & Twigs CODE OR LINK BELOW ! WWW.SPRIGSANDTWIGS.NET 860-235-0752 NEVER MISS A THING . ARTICLES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL SO YOU CAN SAVE YOUR FAVORITES & SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS DIRECTLY . https://mailchi.mp/sprigsandtwigs/np-subscribe