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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TIME TO PRUNE OLD WOOD HYDRANGEAS

How to Prune A Bigleaf Hydrangea

It’s finally time to prune your old wood hydrangeas. This is in addition to what I wrote in February of this year about hydrangea pruning. At that time I wrote it was safe to prune your panicle and woodland hydrangeas in late winter. If you haven’t already done that, get going unless you live in…

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NEW HYDRANGEAS COMING THIS YEAR

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Heart Throb' has blood red flowers

As I promised in my last post of 2021, here is the second installment about new hydrangeas that are coming to  local garden centers in 2022. Some are newer than others, but since it takes a while to build up stock, it also takes time to get them out into gardeners’ hands.

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HYDRANGEA SCALE

Climbing hydrangea on arbor

I was horrified this past weekend to spot an extensive case of hydrangea scale on my climbing hydrangea (hydrangea ssp. petiolaris). It was an accidental discovery as my original mission was to prune it back. As covered in my book, Success with Hydrangeas, climbing hydrangeas flower on old wood so I knew it had to…

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HYDRANGEA PRUNING: BIG LEAF AND MOUNTAIN PLANTS

Big leaf hydrangea Let's Dance® Rhythmic Blue®

It’s finally time to prune your big leaf and mountain hydrangeas. This is in addition to what I wrote in January about hydrangea pruning. At that time I wrote that it was safe to go out and prune your woodland/smooth hydrangeas and your panicle hydrangeas. If you haven’t already done that, get going unless you live…

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Climbing Hydrangea, A Plant For All Gardens

Climbing hydrangea elegantly drapes an arbor

  If you’re lucky enough to have a climbing hydrangea (hydrangea anomala petiolaris), you already know what a fabulous plant it is. And right now it is in its glory in my zone 5B garden. The fact that it grows in shade and is drought tolerant makes it doubly attractive. And in my little slice…

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Climbing Hydrangeas

Climbing hydrangeas are the subject du jour. Despite the coming attractions from my prior post, I just couldn’t help writing about them now. Climbing hydrangeas are in bloom in my garden and they are fabulous!! FIND A CLIMBING HYDRANGEA IN THE LANDSCAPE If you can get anywhere near a climbing hydrangea (hydrangea ssp. petiolaris), do…

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