Why do cut hydrangeas wilt?

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 but we won't hold that against them. 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 miserable, the damage is typically reversible.

If the flower head just needs a little lift, a quick squirt with a water spray will spritz it up and rejuvenate floppy sepals. If the whole thing is droppy and wilting, it is possible to take it out of the vase, recut the stem and submerge all of it (stem and flower head) in a sink of cool water. Do physically dunk the flower head to make sure it's been thoroughly coated in water. Because the sepals as well as the stem can take 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! Click here if you'd like to order one of our British, seasonal posies for next week.