In 2007, a local garden center, The Growing Place in Naperville and Aurora, IL, started carrying the panicled hydrangea cultivar 'Mehanii' (I think it is supposed to be spelled 'Meehanii'). I'm finding that it is, so far, living up to their catalog's description of it being a "dwarf" with smaller leaves and smaller panicles, plus it appears to have a neat, mounding habit with dense foliage. I think it's a dainty gem.

I'd like to know more about this cultivar, its origins, and other folks' experiences with it, but I have found precious little about it anywhere on the internet, and even less in English. The Growing Place has obtained it from Beaver Creek in the past, but all I was told by the person I spoke with last year from Beaver Creek was pretty much word for word what the Growing Place's catalog description says. And here's what Arrowhead Alpine's catalog entry says for this cultivar:

"This just appeared on our benches, and no one seems to remember acquiring stock of this cultivar, indeed i canÂt even find reference to the name in any book or catalog, here is the deal, aliens are breeding hydrangea and beamed it onto our benches for distribution, for what nefarious purpose who can guess? Either that or we just didnÂt remember taking cuttings when we were at Hidden Lake Gardens."

I'm hoping some folks on the forum can shed some light on Meehanii's background and share their experiences with it.