Donna - beautiful! I'm in the stages of planning my side yard and I'm going to plant 6 hydrangeas. I'd love to include these two. How big do they get? Do they bloom on new wood?

Thanks for sharing.

Hi, Actually, I think Venice will ultimately be a smaller and stockier plant at 10 years, I'd say 4x4 and Domotoi I'd say 5x5 but in 10 years, who knows where any of us will be.....both of these plants are quite thick as opposed to some of the blues that get a bit leggy if you know what I mean. Venice is from the CityLine series, I also have Paris and that seems to have the same growth habit as Venice, but is red. The other Cityline I have is Berlin, and that's not doing nearly as well as the others. A bit on the scraggy side and the few flowers are very small. A bit of a disappointment, but may a little food will held next year. Cityline also has a another beginning with V (the name escapes me) that we saw at a nursery, should have bought it but didn't and now they're gone. It looked like it would be a pink! I hardly ever see Domotoi but keep your eyes open.....Good Luck!

Beautiful photos! I particularly like that last shot- the color is absolutely iridescent, and irresistible. That is my favorite look on a hydrangea. I know people who hate the in-betweeners like that, that aren't solid blue or solid pink, but I think they're really striking when they've got a tone like that.

Only thing is... I wonder if your 'Domotoi' might be mislabeled. Domotoi (as we have always grown it anyway) emerges with very noticeably doubled, pointy sepals (which then round off a little at the tips and become quite serrated).

I tried to dig up some photos, but the only one I could find was from before they were in full bloom:

You can only kind of see what I mean in that shot- it just made me wonder a bit. Either way though, you've got a gorgeous little plant on your hands, and some great photos to boot!

Hi! Glad you liked the photos!! Iridescent!! That's the word I was searching for! As for Domotoi, now you've peaked my interest and I shall do a little investigating, on the Internet of course. They have a plant at Heritage Museums and Gardens on Cape Cod in their display garden and it wasn't out the last time I was there, this will give me another reason to drag my husband back to take another look! I like the look of your Domotoi and serrated petals you say? Thanks,
Donna

Hi Again, Well, I was able to fine some pictures that sort of resembled mine, and also some that looked just like yours hmmmm.......I went to last year's pictures and found 1 that has a few double flowers (see picture) but this year as far as I can see, they are all single. And, no serrations. One thing that is consistent about mine both years is that the flowers are irregular, none of them are round, they do look like lavender clouds!

I think I see a few serrations on the first picture, Oh Well, I'm very happy with her!
The color is heavenly!

Donna

Hi,

I just thought I'd add a few pictures of my Domotoi this fall as she starts her antiquing. She has the most lovely shades of medium blue and sage green, just beautiful.

I have had great luck with this plant that is in mostly shade, the leaves being a very dark green. Unfortunately, last winter a deer choose Domotoi for its dinner and I was dismayed to find the plant had lost about 1/3 of it's stature this spring; the only hydrangea they touched!

I did manage to get about 10 flowers nonetheless and it remains one of my favorites. I only have double flowers on mine occasionally unlike most of the websites which state that it is a double flowered hydrangea. There may be different clones.

Donna

One of my few clusters of double blooms and they are small I can only imagine what an entire plant would look like!

I find Domotoi one of the harder varieties to root. I took numerous cuttings too late this year planning to give them as gifts this October and not one of them rooted! Previous years I had difficulty also only ending up with a couple that took. I had great sucess with Venice though and I guess that's what I'll be giving away...

This post was edited by dondeldux on Fri, Sep 6, 13 at 16:22