Container compost for hydrangea

[Tomato Head]

I've bought a hydrangea plant (macrophylla blue) and plan to keep it in a container. At the weekend I plan to put it into a larger pot than the one I bought it in, and intended to just use multi purpose compost. However, googling info about hydrangeas, it seems to be suggested that you need acid soil to keep blue hydrangeas blue - so do I need to use ericaceous compost? It says nothing on the instructions with it about acid soil, but I do want the flowers to stay blue!

[Alison]

Yes you defo need ericacious compost, it might (depending on the variety) survive in normal stuff but pretty much all of them prefer acid soil (they grow really well around here) it won't flower blue. Most soil in the NW tends to be acidic, if you have room you might be better putting it direct into a border.

[Tomato Head]

if you have room you might be better putting it direct into a border.

No border at all, let alone room in one! I am strictly a container gardener, having no actual garden. I will get some ericacious compost at the weekend then. Glad I found out about that before I repotted it.

[Alison]

They do look nice in pots but make sure you water with rain water not tap water to keep up the acidity - you can also buy special ericacious plant food which helps.