Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf)
NEW HYDRANGEAS FOR 2026
New hydrangeas for 2026? Say it ain’t so! Don’t we have enough of them already?? Apparently not. So let’s dive in. Happy New Year! As we head into a new gardening year, I thought you might want to know about the new hydrangeas you might see at your local garden center. Some of them…
Read MoreHYDRANGEAS IN LATE SPRING
It is now late spring and your hydrangeas are calling you. The clock is ticking and hydrangeas are waking up. Those that flower on new wood like ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Limelight’ have begun their growth cycle. If you haven’t already pruned them back, now is the time to get busy. Here’s a post I did in…
Read MoreNEW HYDRANGEAS FOR 2025
Despite the warmer temps we are having, my Connecticut garden is still snow- and ice-covered: way too early to start any spring chores. But it’s not too early to dream about what’s to come. And the breeders and growers are obliging us with many new hydrangeas for 2025 to drool over. BIG LEAF (MACROPHYLLA) HYDRANGEAS…
Read MoreTRANSPLANTING HYDRANGEAS
I am in the middle of transplanting hydrangeas, a common late season activity for me. Has your hydrangea outgrown its space? Maybe it didn’t flower and needs more sun. Or maybe you need to fill a hole somewhere else in your garden. It could be time to move your hydrangea to a better spot. Let’s…
Read MoreHYDRANGEAS: WHAT KIND DO YOU HAVE
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…
Read MoreDEADHEADING HYDRANGEAS: THE DETAILS
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.
Read MoreTIME TO PRUNE OLD WOOD HYDRANGEAS
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…
Read MoreNEW 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…
Read MoreTransplanting Hydrangeas in Autumn
Autumn is the best time for transplanting your hydrangeas (that means now), unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere.
Read MoreBEAUTIFUL LATE SEASON HYDRANGEAS
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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