HYDRANGEAS: WHAT KIND DO YOU HAVE

Collage of different types of hydrangeas

I am often asked to help someone identify what kind of hydrangea they have. Many people have plants that they inherited when they bought their home, or someone gave it to them, or they lost the tag, etc. You may wonder why this matters. It matters ‘cause in hydrangea-land you treat different kinds of hydrangeas…

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DEADHEADING HYDRANGEAS: THE DETAILS

Big leaf hydrangea flowers to be deadheaded

This is the time of year when many gardeners wonder about deadheading their hydrangeas. Like everything else about this shrub, what you do depends on the type of hydrangea you have and what you want to achieve. Let’s dig down into the details.

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NEW HYDRANGEAS, PART 3

My last two posts covered several new hydrangeas you are likely to meet this year. Here is part 3 with details on a few more. I also provide some links: one is for a new study on woodland/smooth hydrangeas that you may find useful. The second link will take you to an excellent article on…

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BEAUTIFUL LATE SEASON HYDRANGEAS

Big Leaf Hydrangea In Its Autumn Colors

You have probably heard hydrangeas described as having a beautiful “antique” season of color, the late season. In most cases, the plants being discussed are big leaf (macrophylla) and mountain (serrata) hydrangeas. But don’t discount the oakleaf (quercifolia) and woodland/smooth (arborescens) hydrangeas. Their flowers also change into other colors. More about them later…

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HYDRANGEA PRUNING

A collage of hydrangeas from the Shamrock Collection in France

My apologies for being absent for so long. I have been working on a new hydrangea book about pruning to the exclusion of just about everything else. But I am seeing lots of questions in a variety of formats asking about hydrangea pruning. Clearly, it’s time to open the hydrangea pruning discussion for 2021.

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Hydrangea Arborescens and Stuck Leaves

Leaves stuck together on woodland/smooth hydrangea

Are the leaves on your ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea arborescens stuck to each other? Inspect them and any other hydrangea arborescens you may have like Incrediball® or Invincibelle® Spirit. You may notice some leaves cupped together. It looks like the leaves above from my Invincibelle® Spirit. Interesting, huh? Don’t panic!

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PRUNING YOUR HYDRANGEAS

Hydrangea Paniculata 'Tickled Pink' Mid-Season

If your hydrangeas live in the milder parts of the U.S. and Europe, and the spirit moves you, you can consider pruning only your new wood blooming hydrangeas now. It’s hard to conceive of that when you live where I do. Last March we had 3 Nor’easters. Not only did they bury everything, but the…

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