My Hydrangeas

Somehow I've developed a small hydrangea collection. If you're a hydrangea lover, maybe you shouldn't get excited, as "collection" may be too strong a word -- I've only got four of these flowering shrubs in my garden.

Stil though, they're important plants in my landscape, and I've grown to really appreciate them. Let's start with 'Lady in Red' -- Hydrangea macrophylla 'Lady in Red'.

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This has been in my garden for several years now and has done very well for me -- it even reproduced itself when one of its lower branches rooted into the ground.

It's a "lacecap" type, meaning it has flat flowers instead of the rounded "pom-poms" -- I much prefer the look of the lacecaps.

This particular specimen under the deck is getting quite large again, and I guess I'll have to prune it back again as soon as it's done flowering. I can't wait too long, as I've read that the flower buds are set in the fall for blooming the next year.

The blooms on this particular plant have started turning blue over the last couple of years, which I'm not too excited about. I'll have to adjust the soil pH because I much prefer the pink blooms on this plant, mainly because of the red stems and leaf veins:

Here's what the blooms on my other specimen of 'Lady in Red' look like:

Much nicer, don't you think?

That takes care of two of my four hydrangeas. The third is a different variety that I have growing in a small pot:

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Early Blue' (with a red Japanese maple on the left). This was given to me as a gift from a florist, and I didn't realize it was cold-hardy until I left the pot outside all winter and the plant came back.

I'll be putting this into a larger pot soon, as I'm not sure that I have room in my garden for this. Do deer eat this type of hydrangea? I know they like the next type...

...the oakleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia. This is by far my favorite hydrangea because of the wonderful white blooms, but also because I love the foliage:

The variety I have is 'Pee Wee' and is about 2' (60cm) tall and 4' (1.2m) wide. The deer often prune it during the winter, so I don't get as many blooms as I'd like, but I so appreciate the ones that I do see.

I planted a couple of the larger oakleaf hydrangeas at the very back of my yard at the same time I planted this one, and those both died the first year -- deer ate too much of them, and I didn't water them enough. That's one thing about hydrangeas that I dislike: they need quite a bit of water.

I'm actually quite surprised that the 'Pee Wee' is doing as well as it is -- the sugar maple roots keeps that soil so dry! (I'm not complaining of course)


So that's my small hydrangea collection. Are you growing any? What are your favorites?

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