The Hydrangea Trick Everyone Swears By: Experts Say It Actually Makes Things Worse

Hydrangeas are among the most recognizable ornamental flowers in America because of their beauty in terms of color and quantity of blooms. However, it appears that it is hard to preserve hydrangeas for a longer period than a few days.

This has prompted gardeners to come up with tricks to revive hydrangeas. There are many tricks being shared online about how to revive hydrangeas. Two of the most popular tricks are using sugar in water to revive hydrangeas and conducting a scratch test on hydrangeas.


However, experts in horticulture claim that these tricks are not only ineffective in reviving hydrangeas but also detrimental to their longevity. The key to understanding how to revive hydrangeas lies in understanding how hydrangeas take in water.

The Sugar Water Myth

Many gardeners assume that sugar can be used to nourish cut hydrangeas in the same way that fertilizer nourishes plants that are grown in the ground. The truth is that once the flower stem is cut off, it does not have the roots that are necessary to metabolize the sugar and then transport it.

According to Wayside Gardens, an authority on how to care for plants, sugar in the water can cause cut hydrangeas to wilt more quickly, as it promotes the growth of bacteria. These microorganisms thrive in the sugar water and then enter the stem of the flower through small openings, eventually clogging up the plant’s water transport system.

Plant care advice provided on Lifetips further adds that, “Essentially, what these sugar solutions are doing is providing a food source for bacteria, not for the flower. This bacterial buildup will interfere with the flower’s ability to take up water and will hasten its decay from the inside. Because of this, many experts advise that you avoid adding any additives to the water whenever possible.”

Why the Scratch Test Does Not Work

Another technique often used by gardeners is the scratch test. This technique requires the scratching of the outer layer of the stem of the plant. If the scratched part of the stem displays green tissue, then the stem is assumed to be alive.

However, horticulture experts claim that the scratch test is not a reliable indicator of the status of hydrangeas. According to Martha Stewart, a lifestyle expert, the stem of the plant might display green tissue but still fail to transport water.

Proven Ways to Revive Wilted Hydrangeas

As a solution to this problem, a guide published on Martha Stewart suggests that gardeners can attempt to recut the hydrangea stem at a sharp angle and then briefly submerge it in boiling water for a few seconds. This will dissolve the viscous sap that forms inside hydrangea stems, blocking water from flowing through the stems. The stems must then be quickly placed in cool water to allow for quick rehydration.

A second solution to this problem is to submerge the hydrangea flower head in a bowl of ice-cold water for a number of hours or overnight. Gardening advice published on Fraiche Living, a lifestyle website, suggests that hydrangea petals are able to take in water directly from their surfaces. This solution will replenish lost water in hydrangea flowers and restore their petals to a firm state after they begin to wilt.

Additionally, as stated by Fraiche Living, hydrangeas release much water from their leaves and flowers, which means that if water transfer in the stems slows down for any reason, the flowers will wither in just hours.

Best Practices for Long-Lasting Blooms

According to the experts, the best way to prevent the wilting of the flowers starts even before the flowers are brought indoors. When cutting the hydrangeas, it is best to cut them early in the morning when the plant is already hydrated, and the weather is cooler. This would prevent the crushing of the stem tissue, which contains the water, by using a sharp knife instead of dull scissors.

Once the cut stems are brought indoors, they must be placed immediately in a fresh container of water and changed every two or three days. According to Wayside Gardens, the stems must be kept fresh by changing the container's water daily to prevent the buildup of bacteria, which would affect the hydration of the plants.

Although these practices may not be as exciting as the viral gardening hacks, they are more closely related to the biological needs of the plants.