Have you been keeping up with your hydrangea’s watering schedule, only to find the plant looking a little worse for wear? If the leaves are drooping and you notice a funky, swampy smell coming from the soil, it’s time to act fast. Your hydrangea is likely dealing with “wet feet,” or standing water. Here’s how to get your plant back on the road to recovery.
How to tell if your hydrangea is waterlogged
When your hydrangea starts looking wilted—both the leaves and the blooms—your first move should be to check the soil. A simple trick is to grab a handful of soil and rub it between your palms. If it feels completely saturated or has a rotten odor, you’ve got standing water issues. This usually happens when the soil isn’t well-draining enough, causing moisture to pool around the roots and essentially drown them.
This is a common headache for potted hydrangeas, too. Always make sure your container has a drainage hole. A pro tip: place a piece of a broken ceramic pot over the hole before adding your soil to keep it from getting plugged. To save a waterlogged hydrangea, you’ll need to repot it or move it to a spot in the garden where the water doesn’t collect. Adding a drainage layer is a game-changer for improving soil quality.
How to treat a struggling hydrangea
When water sits for too long, the hydrangea’s roots can’t do their job of feeding the plant. Eventually, they’ll start to rot. If you want to nurse your plant back to health, you’ve got to perform a little “surgery.” Carefully trim away any root sections that feel mushy, look deformed, or smell bad. This gives the hydrangea a fresh start to grow healthy new roots.
How to prevent standing water:
- Avoid planting in naturally swampy areas
- Always use a drainage layer
- Don’t overwater
After you’ve replanted your hydrangea, take it easy on the watering. You don’t want the soil to go bone-dry, but it shouldn’t be soggy either. My favorite trick is to put down a drainage layer before planting and then top everything off with a nice layer of bark mulch. The mulch helps regulate moisture, releasing it slowly into the soil so you don’t have to water nearly as often!
