1. Prepare a pot(s) with good potting soil. Note: this is not the same as garden soil - which may seem obvious to some but as a recent city girl turned suburbanite I'm still learning these things...
2. Clip off a nice hydrangea bloom with a long stem.
3. Clip off the bottom of the stem, preferably with a leaf at the top. Approximately 2" in length.
4. Dip the bottom of the stem in rooting hormone (who even knew such a thing existed). My mom gave me some of hers but upon doing a quick google search there are many different kinds (naturally).
5. Put the bottom of the stem into the potting soil with the leaves left out.
6. Water daily (oh shoot, which reminds me I need to water mine!).
Note, if the leaves die that's ok - don't give up hope, just clip them off and discard. And when you see that the top of the stem starts budding new life, clip the old leaves entirely as they take up a lot of a plants energy.
7. Once it's time to put your fall bulbs in the ground these new stems should have sprouted some good roots and are ready to put in the ground. Remember that they will grow to be god size bushes so leave plenty of space in between your plantings. Also, when I am planting anything new in the ground I put some garden soil in the hole before putting the new plant in. I think the garden soil gives it some good nutrients that may not be in your ground.
8. For their first winter cover up these little guys so they are protected from the harsh weather.
They may not bud for a couple of seasons but once they do, they will be beautiful. And how much fun - I will now have some of my moms hydrangeas at my house in Connecticut!
