Niagara Parks puts hydrangeas on show
GARDENING
Bright and early Thursday morning, I was treated to a sneak preview of the hydrangea show at Niagara Parks Floral Showhouse.
Arriving early at a greenhouse is like visiting a kitchen while dinner is being prepared, there is lots of action. With the radio pumping out lively tunes, the team waters, trims and primps hundreds of plants before the crowds arrive — morning is when you see the team in action. It takes a team to design, grow, set up and maintain more than 300 lush hydrangeas and their companion plants.
When the doors officially open, the gentle music and bird song waft through this traditional glass house, brimming with lush hydrangeas, majestic delphiniums and gentle ferns — the scene is awash in shades of pink, blue, lavender, cream and violet supported by lush greens.
With impressive flowers, unusual colours and forms and a cheerful, uplifting atmosphere, there is little wonder why the annual hydrangea showisoneoftheFloralShowhouse’s most popular events.
Bruce Macdonald, assistant supervisor at the Floral Showhouse, shared some fascinating background information on the show:
TF: When do you start growing the plants for this show?
BM: We will use the same hydrangeas year after year and propagate a small percentage of hydrangeas each year for replacement plants; every three years we redo our baskets.
The process starts at the end of our hydrangea show. We remove the hydrangeas, cut them back, and grow them in full sun and fertilize them over the summer. We keep them outside until December. When most of the leaves have fallen off, and before there is a danger of the buds freezing, we bring the plants into a greenhouse. We hold them at 4 to 6 C until January, then we will bump up the temperature to 11 to 14 C. The lower temperatures produce larger blooms, taller stems and larger leaves. We will adjust the temperature warmer or colder depending on their rate of development.
TF: What hydrangeas do you grow?
BM: The lacecaps and mopheads that we grow are all Hydrangea macrophylla.
TF: Most people are familiar with mophead (round) hydrangeas; what are lacecaps?
Grower Anne Van Nest, explains: The lacecaps are a subgroup of cultivars that have been bred to have a flat (or just slightly domed) flower head that contains the large, sterile outer florets (sepals) and a dense cluster of inner, fertile flowers.
TF: The pastel colour palette is lovely. What is involved in achieving these colours?
BM: The colour variation is a direct correlation to fertilization and the PH of the soil media. The sepals of hydrangeas contain red anthocyanin pigment, which will turn blue when it reacts with certain metals. Aluminum sulphate is the main additive to the soil media that we use to cause this reaction. When the aluminum is present in the right rates it will produce a blue coloured hydrangea. If, on the other hand, there is a shortage and the aluminum does not react with all the anthocyanin we will get a range of intermediate colours (purples and mauves).
TF: I noticed some striking delphiniums in the display. Is there a trick in getting them to bloom in sequence with the hydrangeas?
BM: We are growing a variety called Pacific Giants. We bring the delphiniums into the greenhouse to start forcing for our hydrangea show the third week in February and it takes about six to eight weeks at 15 to18 C for them to bloom.
TF: Would you have some advice for home gardeners who would like to grow hydrangeas?
BM: The best advice is to talk with your local garden centre about the varieties they have to offer. There are floral types of hydrangeas you may buy in grocery stores that are not hardy. It is better to talk to the experts before buying, ask their advice on the best variety for your gardening situation.
TF: What are some of the other plants in this show?
BM: We use the following plants as filler plants for the show, some are flowering and some are green: rhododendrons, clivia, Norfolk Island pine, bird’s nest ferns, Boston ferns, maidenhair ferns, asparagus ferns, myrtle, mother-in-law’s tongue, coleus, iresine and muscari to name a few.
TF: How much advance planning is required?
BM: Our display designer, Sue Stoll, draws up the design a year in advance.
TF: There must be many challenges in putting together a show like this, could you share one or two of the challenges with us?
BM: One of the challenges is in the timing of the flower to coincide with the date of our show, if we have a cool spring, it is easier to slow down the process of flowering, if needed. If it is a warm spring, we have to watch the crop very carefully to time it just right.
TF: On the plus side, what are the rewards?
BM: One of the biggest rewards is the reaction of our visitors to the large blooms, the variation in colours of the show, and the large plants.
TF: It takes a team to make this show a reality. How many people are involved?
BM: First is Sue Stoll, our display designer who designs the various shows throughout the seasons with a creative flair. Then there is Mark McDonell, the grower of the hydrangea crop.
The rest of the Floral Showhouse team provide support in the background to make the show possible and are key in the installation of the show: growers Desiree Constantinides and Anne Van Nest and gardener Mark Suthons. While the show is being installed, there are growers who cover the watering and production responsibilities of those who are working on the show: Marie Stokes, grower and Wayne Hoeschle, curator/grower of our tropical collections. — Theresa Forte is a local garden writer, photographer and speaker. You can reach her by calling 905-351-7540 or by email at theresa_forte@sympatico.ca.