How do I stop hydrangeas from wilting?

How to hydrate your hydrangeas

It's June and, yippee, the hydrangea flowers are coming out in the garden. The flower 'petals' are actually sepals, so what we are really looking at are inflourescences with tiny flowers in the middle. Hydrangeas are an amazing shrub to fill your borders with colour in the summer and when their leaves and blooms change colour in the autumn they're just as lovely.

Hydrangeas make a good cut flower but they can sometimes wilt when cut or in hot weather and that can be disappointing. Fear not, even though they look really miserable, the damage is typically reversible.

If the flower head just needs a little pick-me-up, a quick squirt with a water spray will spritz it up and rejuvenate floppy sepals. But if the whole thing is really droppy and wilting, it is possible to recut the stem and submerge all of it (stem and flower head) in a sink or even bath of cool water. Do make sure the flower head is properly in the water. Because the sepals as well as the stem can drink in water directly, after about 3 hours the hydrangea will have rehydrated and should be as good as new to enjoy for many days to come.

This week's British, seasonal posy (17 June 22) includes homegrown hydrangeas but every week is different!

To check out our MeadowSweet posies of British grown flowers, please click here.