I bought a nikko blue hydrangea today. Can I still plant it in my yard? I am in Chicago.?

Absolutly! The best place for that plant during the winter is in the ground. But a few words of warning about Nikko Blues in Chicago. That hydrangea is not stem hardy in our winters. It only blooms on second year wood. So you will have nice foliage next spring as new stems grow from the crown, but it is unlikely that you will ever see it bloom again. Unless global warming puts Chicago into a warmer cold hardiness zone.



Additional Details: Nikko blue Hydrangea is deciduous. They lose their leaves in fall. There will be no need to place burlap around a shrub with no leaves. Desiccation is the loss of moisture from a leaf in winter. It occurs because the lost moisture in the leaf can not be replaced when the water in the soil is frozen. Desiccation is a concern for broadleaf evergreens like Rhododendron and Azaleas, not a deciduous shrub like a Nikko blue hydrangea. Mulch is always beneficial to retard moisture loss from your soils. It can also help to moderate soil temperatures in summer. Soil is a good insulator and mulch will do little to moderate a soil's temperature in winter. It can help reduce the freeze thaw cycle in the top few inches and prevent the heaving of shallow planted bulbs, corm, tubers, etc. Since the Hydrangea has none of these, mulch will do little to protect hydrangea roots properly planted. Winter survival will be dependant upon the survival of your shrub's crown, not the roots. Mulch because this is the best thing to do to control weed seed germination and moderate soil moisture levels. Keep the mulch back off the stems of the shrubs to prevent crown rot and insects.

I bought a nikko blue hydrangea today. Can I still plant it in my yard? I am in Chicago.?
hello



look here

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/Hydrangea...



I hope it helps
Reply:Wow, you cannot keep it in the house! So put it in the yard (the ground is not frozen yet) and put some burlap around it on tall stakes to protect it from wind dessication - you need to be sure it has plenty of water when the days are not freezing and mulch the base - keep it back 1 or 2 inches from the plant stems, but you need to mulch the top of the root ball to protect it since the roots will not have enough time to get deep before the freeze hits.