Join the Hydrangea renaissance
A lot has changed about these beautiful plants due to the advances in plant breeding over the past couple of decades
ONE of my fondest childhood memories was playing in the backyard of my grandparents’ house and hiding in the tall bushes while taking on the role of either a cowboy or an Indian, as was one of the typical outdoor games back then.
The highset house had plenty of tall, bushy shrubs behind which one could hide and ambush an unsuspecting member of the opposing side, followed by a bit of a rough and tumble on the backyard lawn, which always ended in a severe bout of itchiness from the rough, hairy leaves of the species buffalo grass of the era (no hairless, soft-leaved varieties back then).
It wasn’t until I was a young adult and becoming interested in plants, that I realised the excellent hidey-place shrubs, planted on the southern and eastern side of the highset house, were unpruned, blueflowered species of the then-popular shade loving genus of Hydrangea.
Since those great days (and music!) of the 60s, 70s and 80s, hydrangeas fell out of favour as sought-after garden plants, and one was hard-pressed to find a single specimen in many nurseries in our region. If there were any on sale, they were the common, blue or pink flowered “garden variety” of Hydrangea.
Thankfully, advances in plant breeding techniques and technology over the past 10 to 20 years has seen a revival of many “old fashioned” plants that may have been lost from our modern gardens. This revival has come about due to the myriad of new shapes, sizes and colours developed, tested and marketed as new cultivars of these oldfashioned favourites.
Hydrangeas certainly fall into this category of “revived” garden oldies, with a walk through any garden centre nowadays dazzling the gardener with a stunning range of sizes, shapes and colours of this wonderfully reliable plant.
Hydrangeas belong to an Asian and North American plant family, Hydrangeaceae, which also contains other garden favourites such as Deutzia and Philadelphus.
Most of the commonly planted hydrangeas originate from eastern and southern Asia, with only two species from southern or eastern regions of North America.
Hydrangeas grow best in temperate to cool climates, and when planted in a rich, well-drained soil, preferably slightly acidic (pH 6-7). Most species prefer a part/dappled to full shade aspect, or where they can enjoy a few hours of full morning sun, followed by shade when the sun is at its strongest. They don’t like to dry out, quickly wilting to let the gardener know they need water.
Coming from the colder regions of the world, many hydrangeas are tolerant of frost and are deciduous in autumn and winter.
Most garden hydrangeas are noted for their summer/autumn display of rounded or flat inflorescences of tiny flowers surrounded by large, colourful sepals in blue, white, pink, red or purple tones. Modern breeding has created many shades of these colours, as well as some two-tone blooms. It’s well known that some species and cultivars of Hydrangea will have their flower colour affected by the pH of the soil in which they grow. If the soil is acidic (pH below 7), the flowers will usually be bluish in colour. If the soil is in the alkaline range (pH above 7), then the flowers will generally be pink in colour. There are specific “hydrangea blueing” products, containing aluminium sulphate, which acidifies the soil as well as adding aluminium, which the plants accumulate to help change flower colours to blue. To make a soil alkaline for pink flowers, simply add lime. It’s worth noting that some newer cultivars, particularly those with white flowers, may not change colour due to soil pH.
The most common Hydrangea species grown in gardens is H. macrophylla, the mophead, French, or lacecap Hydrangea, which hails from Japan and China. This plant has been the most developed and hybridised of all the Hydrangea species in recent times. It’s characterised by large, rounded leaves and rounded or flat inflorescences of flowers in pink, blue, red, or purple. Most H. macrophylla species and cultivars prefer to be grown in dappled shade, however some newer varieties can tolerate full sun positions.
Look for some of the following new Hydrangea macrophylla varieties in your local garden centre – Tuxedo, with unusual purple/black foliage and sporting dark pink/ crimson red blooms in spring (flowering earlier than most hydrangeas), The Obsidian Collection, three black-stemmed cultivars including ‘Black Lace’ (cobalt blue flowers), ‘White Knight’ (white) and ‘Storm Cloud’ (lavender/pink), the compact “Tea Time” range which includes bicoloured blooms, Hydrangea You and Me ‘Forever’ and ‘Desire’; more compact (to 1m) plants with double blooms in pastel pink or blue, and the Blue or Pink ‘Magical Revolution’, ultra-compact plants (to 70cm) with longlasting blooms.
Another species of Hydrangea that has seen some great breeding recently is H. quercifolia, the oak-leaved hydrangea, from North America. With striking erect coneshaped panicles of white flowers in summer, this beauty also produces a stunning display of bronze to deep burgundy leaf colours in autumn. One of the best new cultivars is ‘Snowflake’ with double white flowers on a compact plant (to 1m). Others include ‘Pee Wee’, ‘Alice’ and ‘Sikes Dwarf’.
Other Hydrangea species now on offer include H. paniculata (look for ‘Diamond Rouge’ and ‘Pink Diamond’, both sunhardy cultivars), H. arborescens (‘Annabelle’ is a stunner with 30cm wide white blooms), the rarer “lacecap” H. aspera from the Himalayan regions (Strigosa and Villosa are some forms of this species), and a newer hybrid Hydrangea ‘Oriental Lace’ another lacecap variety (lacecap flowers are typically smaller flowers surrounded by larger, showy flowers).
Look for some great hydrangeas in your local garden centre and become part of the renaissance of these beautiful garden plants!
Thanks to The Springs Garden World, Spring St, Toowoomba for access to their Hydrangea collection this week.