Hydrangeas More Than You Ever Wanted to Know (MTYEWTK)
When I first got interested in hydrangeas, I have to admit I considered the ones I had seen to be kind of “grandma plants” not worth a place in my garden. Then one day at the Washington Park Arboretum I ran into a magnificent hydrangea aspera in peak flower and a new “kick” was born. Maybe it was the hydrangea and maybe it was the fact that I am now a grandpa, but I fell in love. Since then, Bethany and I have scoured wholesale nurseries and botanical gardens to find beautiful hydrangeas for Lael’s Moon Garden and some of our favorites are described below.
This past winter was particularly difficult for many hydrangeas. It was really cold early and many hydrangeas suffered dieback at the branch tips. For some Hydrangeas this means few flowers this year as the flower buds are at the branch tips and were frozen. Be patient, take good care of your plants, don’t prune too hard or too late and next year they should bloom normally. Of course, another option is to select varieties that bloom on new wood or are rebloomers.
Hydrangea aspera ‘Macrophylla’ has stunning lace cap flowers of soft purple with stark white sterile florets surrounding them. The plant has large, dark green fuzzy leaves and the flowers extend above the leaves giving it a distinctive look. (A friend called it the Hydrangea from Mars.) This is a large shrub growing to eight feet tall and wide. Afternoon shade is a must; it will sunburn in hot sun.
To read more about lovely hydrangeas, click on the document to the right.
