New arborescens is coming upon us:-)

15 years ago

From Tim Wood's (Spring Meadow Nursery) newsletter,

'... there was a need for more selections of H. arborescens and that I would like to see an improved 'Annabelle' with sturdier stems. At the time this was only a wish, however I was breeding and selecting with the goal of developeing an Annabelle with strong stems. Annabelle is such a great plant but is a mess after it rains. The stems are just not strong enough to hold the large flowers. Well I have exciting news to share; I found a plant with very strong stems. This was not a big of a surprise, but what came as a surprise was that this selection had strong stems and incredibly larger flower heads too. When I counted the individual flowers this selection had 4x as many flowers as Annabell. I call it Incrediball Hydrangea...

....Don't ask be where you can buy it because it's not for sale - yet. Hopefully you can get it from Wayside gardens next Spring.'

Start saving :-))

Comments (8)

ostrich
15 years ago
And please don't tell us that it comes in WHITE, PINK and BLUE.... then I really would be saving my pennies!!! :-)
razorback33
15 years ago
Hmmm! Wonder where he found that one? In my garden, all of the old 'Annabelles's' have strong stems and none of the flowers bend over to the ground during rainfall (during the rare occasions, when that happens). If the canes don't die back to the ground during winter, all of the flower buds are set on new growth from old, thick, upright, woody canes. Some very old plants appear to be tree-like, with a large mound of foliage and flowers at the top of thick, heavy stems.
I think I would admire the new arborescens from a distance, until SM adds it to their PW collection and it becomes available at local nurseries.. I was a customer of SM for many years, but had to find a new supplier, to cut my losses. Also, their large selection of Hydrangea cultivars kept shrinking, until it was down to a ho-hum list.
MO & HO
Rb
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Tim Wood
15 years ago
Here's a link to the blog and it has pictures as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Hunter Blog
georgia-rose
15 years ago
I'm waiting on the pink-flowered 'Annabelle' that Dirr has on the back-burner. There are some Hydrangea radiata around that have pink flowers, but they are LC. Still very pretty, but blooms aren't as large as 'Annabelle'.
Iris GW
15 years ago
Hydrangea arborescens L. ssp. radiata was what I was interested in ... looks like it is now known as Hydrangea radiata.

I'd vote for sturdier stems on 'Annabelle' - it truly is a mess after the rain (and I keep all my old stems, hoping it will get better, but it doesn't).
Gary M
15 years ago
Jackson and Perkins catalog Listed Annabelle PPAF. I inquired by email if they could patented an existing plant. There responce was "yes". That leaves a lot of questions.

Garyt
razorback33
15 years ago
According to the Patent laws, 'Annabelle' would be inelgible for a patent, since it has been in commerce for several years.
But given the propensity of some people to fabricate historical data on the application and the lack of subject knowledge by the examiners, I suppose anything is possible.
Greed seems to be in vogue today!
Rb
orchidacea
15 years ago
The pink Annabelle is coming...but not for this growing season but next...keep a spot in your garden for that assuming you can find one..I expect some nurseries will start taking orders later this yr for 2010 shippments...the White Incrediball is very hard to find this season, it is new to the mkt, I can only find a few online places have this for sales - Sooner Plant Farm, Garden Crossing, and Wayside...I got my Incrediballs some weeks ago from Sooner - trade gallon size, very good packaging, size is a bit small for the container, the plants were dormant at the time, now they are sprouting new leaves, vey healthy plants...so far so good...I have looked for larger gallon size Incrediballs around, searching high and low, but the wholesale growers told me this item is WHITE-Hot this season, the supply is limited and anyone would be lucky to find anything larger than the trade gallon this season...keep an eye on these items in your local nurseries and save some spots in the garden...

http://plant-quest.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-pink-flowered-annabelle-hydrangea.html