Hydrangea Varieties

It is the season for Hydrangeas. I have learned a great deal about these in recent years. My very first one was a 'sad plant' at Molbaks - some disaster-broken $5 single-blossom plant, but it did have a pretty blossom, so I took home my little Charlie Brown hydrangea.




And it grew. And grew and grew and grew. But, I had poor luck getting it to bloom again. Initially, I had planted it where our condos are, which is quite shady. They like shade, but they do need some sun to bloom! I had collected a couple more of the mopheads, which are the ones I originally favored. Finally, I moved them to the side wall of the condos. Some did bloom, but I still had one that I had never gotten to bloom, although it had grown to quite a large size!




Once when we were at "Flower World" we walked by a 'hydrangea tree". This type of hydrangea is a grafted for of a "Pee Gee" or "Paniculata Grandiflora". There have been many new types of this family of hydrangeas that have come about very recently. The tree we got that day is cultivar "Unique". The beauty of that particular cultivar is that is has more of the larger, creamy white flowers and not as many of the smaller florets. All the PG Hydrangeas form a cone shape. They grow from woody stems, as opposed to the softer stems of the mopheads and lacecaps. Many of them turn colors as they mature through their bloom cycle. Usually our PG takes on a soft pink color. We also have one shrub called "Ruby Angel" which gets to be quite a dark pink, with blossoms that are quite large. We also have a Tardiva. The Oak Leaf varieties we have are Snowflake, Snow Queen (both of which have double blossoms) and Alice. The Oak Leaf varieties are particularly beautiful in the fall as they turn a crimson red.








Another type of hydrangea is one called "Anabelle". This one is more of a clump of single-stemmed plants that come up and make a huge round creamy bloom on the end kinda like a lolipop.




Then there are the mopheads - we have white, white turning to blue, blue, magenta, and purple. The soil where they are planted is on the acid side, so it contributes to the darker shades, and in some cases, changes the ones that are supposed to be pink to blue.









Lacecaps - I didn't used to appreciate them because there were not enough of the large florets on the head for me. But I have since come to see hydrangeas that are loaded with color from top to bottom which are one of the trademarks, I think, of the lacecaps. There are new varieties where the side flowers look like shooting stars. I have one called 'twist and shout" that has blue little fuzzy flowers in the middle and pink larger flowers around the edge.

What is so special aboout ‘Twist and Shout’? It is the first Lacecap re-bloomer. The Original Endless Summer and it’s sister ‘Blushing Bride’ have the big mophead flowers. Twist-n-Shout flowers have a lacy center of small flowers surrounded by larger blossoms of pink or periwinkle blue, depending on soil types. Twist and shout is a cross between H. ‘Penny Mac’ and H. ‘Lady in Red. The stems are sturdy and red (like it’s mother Lady in Red). Another bonus….the leaves turn red-burgundy in fall. It is easy to care for and hardy to zone 4. Twist and Shout grows 3-5′ tall and wide.



Last but not least, we have two golden oakleaf hydrangeas - quite rare, and have never yet bloomed. It must be a maturity thing. We wait patiently until they are ready...





So, there are a huge variety of hydrangeas, far to many than I can discuss in this short blog. Enjoy the pictures - these have been very worthwhile plants.


view at front of my garden - new sod.