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runktrun

2007 Banner Year For Hydrangeas In New England

runktrun
16 years ago

I thought as it really is a banner year for Hydrangeas in New England this would be a good time for us to post observations, photos, information. I will I am posting my Picasa Hydrangeas 2007 album and will add more photoÂs to it each day. Below is a link to a great web site about Hydrangeas that you might find informative.

Hydrangeas 2007

Comments (73)

  • diggingthedirt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks, Geo, now I know which ones to keep through the "ugly duckling" phase. Certainly the whites (and maybe I'll keep the flowers on some blues, just to see what they do).

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Very interesting everyone and of course great pictures but your killing me my hydrangea lust list is has been forcing me to check my local nurseries everyday of course they don't have any of the varieties on my list but I have bought six new Hydrangeas in the last two days. Hello my name is Katy and the last time I bought a Hydrangea was...
    I thought I would post some photos of climbing hydrangeas, with the exception of Hydrangea anomala petiolaris my vines are too young for blooming but as with many flowers in my garden I love these vines more for their foliage anyway.
    Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight'


    Schrizophragma hydrangeoides 'Roseum'

    Hydrangea anomala petiolaris 'Firefly' which looks identical to Miranda but it appears to be a stronger grower.

    Hydrangea anomala petiolaris 'Miranda

    Schizophragma Platts Dwarf

    Older Hydrangea anomala petiolaris that I am training to a standard I saw this done in the Netherlands and thought it would be good practice for this pruning phobic.

    Hydrangea anomala petiolaris

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow, Katy, I didn't know that you are a Climbing Hydrangeas collector!
    I'm affraid I'll repeat myself, but if I would of discover Schizophragmas before H.petiolaris I would probably had one petiolaris and all of the rest would be just different Schizos only!
    Anyway, since I don't have anything interesting to post from my own garden, here is the picture from one of the gardens tours
    {{gwi:34635}}

    By the way, if you are interested in a subject and would like to have a GREAT tutorial about training climbing hydrangeas (big thanks to our own Liz-Chelone) be sure to check the link below.

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ego,
    Thanks for posting the very informative link, I agree with you opinion of Japanese Climbing Hydranges (Schizophragmas hydrangeoides). To my knowledge most if not all are hardy to zone 5.
    For those folks who were unable to read the captions from my first post this is such a fantastic small Hydrangea that I believe it bares repeating. I am expecting it to have a long season of looking good as it is an early blooming serrata.
    {{gwi:683328}}
    Hydrangea serrata 'Shirofugi' A small gem 18"-24"H x 30"-36"W


    Beautiful white flowers of H. serrata 'Shirofugi' age to pink.

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ladies,
    I just went over the whole thread and realised how much usefull info is here beside the great pictures everyone was posting.
    Should we keep it for 'our eyes only' or could I post a link to the thread on Hydrangea forum where a lot of people will be glad to share our joy and possibly add their own pics and comments?

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ego,
    I say The More The Merrier but I should warn you I have been considering posting my negative opinion of the favored H 'Niko'. kt

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Kt, in my books, 'negative' is an opinion that can't be disregarded and in most instances it should be given even more consideration than 'ah-oh, how gorgeous it is' opinion.
    re: 'Nikko' and 'Nikko-types'
    It's extremely overused (for a reason, I think) and in many regions Nikko Blue name just used as a synonym for any generic mophead macrophilla (Nikko-types).
    I'll be glad to hear the story about what Nikko 'did' to you :-))

  • WendyB 5A/MA
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Katy, how old are your schizos that are not ready to bloom? and do they get a good amount of sun?

    I am on year 4 with Moonlight and not pleased that still no blooms. I also am worried about the amount of shade mine gets. It only gets a few hours of afternoon sun -- maybe a bit of that is direct, its mostly filtered.

  • jackz411
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Absolutely stunning hydrangea photos! Being in VT in zone 4b many of them would not take my Vermont winters too well; so my selection is rather limited. Last May I planted 10 Es and I have found them to do very well in my cold zone. Here they seem to do quite well in full sun, 9-5.
    Katy, your ES's look just divine. Cheerio, Jk

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wendy,
    My Schrizophragma hydrangeoides are just two years old growing in full shade up a group of oak trees. They receive consistent irrigation which seems to be key. The Schrizophragma hydrangeoides Platts Dwarf is one of at least two small leaved varieties. It is worth noting that it had been mentioned by some folks from Scott Arboretum at a Hydrangea lecture that 'Brookside Littleleaf was an extremely slow grower and I have found that not to be the case with Platts Dwarf. The first year it grew an amazing six feet and this year it has become much denser and adding an additional three feet to date. Schrizophragma hydrangeoides Roseum has not grown as dense or quickly but has reached a respectable five feet in the same amount of time. I do recall from the same Hydrangea lecture that Roseum is thought to be the least winter hardy of the Schrizophragma h. I cant recall how many years it took my young Hydrangea anomala ssp. Petiolaris to flower but I believe Schrizophragma hydrangeoides are known to flower on younger vines. Could your vine be experiencing a ph or irrigation stress? One last note I did note today that the Japanese Beetles had a field day with my Schrizophragma hydrangeoides Moonlight and left the others varieties alone but who knows they could be on the menu for dinner. kt
    Jk Thanks for the nice thought.

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've heard that too that Schizo start blooming earlier than Petiolaris, but....lately i learn that amount of sun it receives is not less important factor than an age.
    Me and my friend bought Moonlight at the same nursery on the same day 3 years ago.
    Mine was planted on East side of the tree and he planted his on a West side of the tree.
    Low and behold he had a several blooms this year and I don't. Both plants currently in 10-12' range from 2G pots originally.
    Interesting observation, his Schizo being planted in West exposure trying to encircle the tree from W to E via North, mine being planted on East side don't want to go nowhere, but straight up.
    Side note: if my Moonlight would be a plant with no chances to ever flowering, I'd still grow it for the foliage alone.

  • diggingthedirt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Moonlight looks really wonderful - Must Have One. Now to find a tree to grow it on. This could take awhile...

  • sunshineboy
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is indeed a banner year. I was given this hydrangea 7 years ago and this is the first bloom Ive seen. Can anyone identify this plant from this pic?

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    SAY NO NO TO NIKKO

    In my own defense I would like to state that my disappointment with Hydrangea m. Nikko is not based on its over use in commerce, after all I am a big fan of H. Endless Summer. From an aesthetic point of view I find the bloom color of H. Nikko whether pink or blue to be one dimensional lacking in variation and depth of color. The dull light yellow/green relatively narrow shaped leaves seem to clash with the bloom color.


    Now keep in mind this is based solely on my first hand experience in my garden. In the same non irrigated east facing shrub border seven years ago I planted a group of five Nikkos under the canopy of an oak tree, ten feet away again under the canopy of an oak tree I planted H. Altona (zone6-9). During the winters of 2004 and 2005 my Nikkos took a real beating and died back to the ground while Altona with its saw toothed petals which is known as a Hydrangea that dries well, was then and continues now to be the show case plant in that border.

    Again seven years ago with no irrigation in a west facing shrub border I planted another favorite H. Niedersachen it has been consistently hardy and again the range in color from the white eye to the deep blue purple blossoms make this an exceptional Hydrangea that now thanks to egos previous post I see would be fabulous companioned with Sister Teresa and maybe add my Tokyo Delight to the group.hmmmm. (Again please note this photo was taken this am and as the blossoms begin to age they will develop deeper and varying shades of blue.)

    My three year old Dirr introductions Dooley although reported to be a good winter hardy choice for New England I have found to be a smaller but nearly identical version of the disappointing Nikko.

    With so many varieties of Hydrangeas available today I would argue that you should say no no to Nikko and choose a more outstanding variety.
    Sunshineboy,
    Happy you finally have a bloom. A little more info would help in attempting to id. Tell us the over all size of the bush, the size of the bloom once it has fully matured, and what conditions it is growing in, ie full shade/part shade/sun, and if you know your soils ph. The leaves in your photo are telling and narrows it down. In a few weeks my guess would be your bloom will look very different you might post another photo then. kt

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Katy,
    I certainly respect your opinion and I'm myself having some 'issues' with Nikko, however would like to say a few (actualy not just a few [g] ) words in its defence.

    First and foremost, exactly in a same way as PG become a common name for all paniculatas for non-gardening public ( or Xerox for any brand of copy machine, Jeep for SUV etc), Nikko Blue name for many years was and for the general public is an equivalent of a 'blue mophead hydrangea'.
    Not a very long ago, before current hydrangea cultivars craze took a place, Nikko or Nikko-alike hydrangeas were the only choice for the most homeowners. Given its name recognition and ease of propagation/growing to commercial size mass growers even didn't want to bother with ordering new name tags or marketing efforts.
    That is how market become saturated with generic 'me-too-like-Nikko' mopheads all bearing the same NB name.
    Add to this a fact that if you sell your house new owners wouldn't remember (even if they'll be interested to even ask you the names of hydrangeas) neither name Dooley or Altona or any other names you grow except one, NIKKO.
    It's a brand name. Period.
    What is sold under this name is a different story.
    I'm writing this for so long just to make a point that there is a Nikko and there are a Nikko-types.
    My guess is that to find and identify 'true' NB in a sea of N-types is a job for high professionals or CSI.
    I'm myself grow 8 plants that could be named NB based on a first glance appearance, but I suspect that only 2 of them are true NB.
    This one (about 20 y.old and inherited with a house)


    and another one that I propagated myself from it.
    It has a dark green heart-shaped, but slightly elongated fleshy leaves and the most important(!!!) has an ability to produce flowers from a secondary buds along the stem if top bud is killed.
    No, I'm not saying that it will defintely produce it, but may produce it as it happened in 2004 (you may remember that sudden drop from 20F to -10F overnight in January'04). That year it was one and only macrophilla in my garden that produced flowers. Handfull, in August, but still did.
    Of course, position, soil content, sun-wind exposure playing very important role in a color, appearance and performance of any hydrangea in a garden, so lets not paint TRUE Nikko by the same brush as its impersonators. :-)))

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm probably beating the dead horse here, but still want to add a few things regarding the Nikko.

    What are those so-called remontant hydrangeas, Dooley, Penny Mac, All Summer Beauty, ES etc?

    They are SELECTIONS.
    That's right, they were not discovered in a wild and brought to you 'as is', nor they are the product of many years of hybridization efforts.
    They were simply SELECTED for their specific treat-ability to bloom from a secondary buds along the stem or on completely new wood. In another words they are NATURALY occured variances of the existing plants.
    The only questions is how the owners called them before they were SELECTED, RENAMED and commercionalized?
    I'm 100% sure, answer is - Nikko Blue, as it was and still is a generic name for a generic mophead.
    I hope you noticed that all so-called Nikkos are not equal, neither in size, habit, form, color and size of the leaves nor in a color, density and size of the flowerheads.
    That is because they are propagated from the different parent plants. And those parents were propagated from the different parents and so on so on. Some parents had all necessary attributes of the 'original' Nikko, but some kept only part of them and as generations of vegetative propagation went by some attributes were lost as unnecessary for the plant, but name stayed the same.
    On an opposite side, some qualities were naturaly enhanced as plants were adopting themselves to the new growing and harsher conditions.
    That is why we have some Nikkos that are not blooming in z7 CT and ES (formerly Nikko Blue according to my theory) that is blooming in z4/5 MN.

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ego,
    Fascinating information and certainly explains why my neighbors Nikkos can be stunning while mine as I have mentioned are nothing more than a disappointment. You certainly have made it simpler to do a little shovel pruning. In lite of what you have written I would also be more apt to suggest to folks to go ahead and plant the florist hydrangea (actually I have two that are 5yrs old and are a knock out) as it would be near to impossible to tell if the linage would be hardy. Thanks kt

  • jackz411
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think you are on the right track about Nikkos ego45, today all Nikkos are not equal. I bought 3 "Hygrangea Nikko Blue" in May of 06 and I protected 2 overwinter and left the other one unprotected.

    I was at first quite confused when that unprotected Nikko had a flower. Hay and YG explained it to me quite well and after reading your Nikko thoughts I see that all "Nikkos" are not the same today. Now that 1 Nikko has about 8 large flowers top to bottom and is behaving more like an ES or a remontant...than a Nikko. In fact the leaves and flowers are identical to the ES beside it. Must be something in the selection or the DNA? Cheerio, Jk

  • WendyB 5A/MA
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You are making a good case that its genes, but I have to throw in that climate pays a role as well.

    A friend of mine from 5B Marlboro MA was moving to CA. She gave me a two divisions of her well-blooming "mophead" for my 5A yard and she took several with her to CA. I think her Marlboro version was a division from her grandmother's garden in PA.

    They never bloomed for me in my 5A climate no matter how sheltered or how much winter protection I gave them (wire bins and leaves) or TLC. I gave them aT least 5 years attempts before they got shovel pruned. (I am saving some offsets in pots for her in case she moves back to N.E.)

    In Z9 CA they bloom non-stop for her and all her neighbors want one! She has had some trouble finding enough shade for them and she has had some spotty troubles, but overall they are a big success and extremely remontant there.

    same genes. So definitely climate/length of growing season (?) helps with remontant-ness. opportunists I guess.

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wendy,
    Absolutely!
    But what I was trying to say that there are some NB that still have in their genes original remontant-ness and some that lost this ability in a multi-generational propagation process without breeding efforts.
    ES wasn't bred or gene-modified, it was selected by a professional with an eye for it (who in-the-know would of missed RELIABLY blooming NB in MN?).
    Quote from the US Patent Office document, PP15,298
    'The inventor discovered the new cultivar, `Bailmer`, in a cultivated garden in St. Paul, Minn. in the summer of 1983. The inventor observed the new invention for a three year period and recognized that it was unique in that it bloomed dependably in a Zone 4 climate....'
    So, could we say that NB evolutionazed into ES there?
    I would think so.
    Maybe just a one of the thousands plants, but it did.
    I'm sure that in 5A/5B there are much more similar plants grow in old gardens still being 'undiscovered'.
    On another side, just take a peak on Hydrangea or Professional Gardener Forums and see how many people complaining about non-blooming ESs.
    Why it was blooming in MN and don't want to bloom in NY, PA, MA or NH?
    I think for the same reason is why Katy is not happy with her NB, but her neighbors across the street are.
    Plants that were propagated from the original plant in MN and were grown in MN were ES, but propagation out of propagated out of propagated plant that were growing in NC, GA and elswhere down south resulted in a different plant or I would rather say reversion to the original pre-ES version of it.
    Just IMO.

  • diggingthedirt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    But ... this is all vegetative propagation, right? So the genetics are identical, right? Or am I missing something?

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nan, not necessarily, even TC (tissue culture) can't guarantee absence of the variances. Look at the hostas world. Sport after sport after sport.
    In this case we are not talking about discovery of MN-native cold hardy hydrangea, we are talking about discovery of a non-hardy 'foreign' plant that by strange chance evolutionary become adopted/trained to the non-hospitable conditions.
    So far I've never seen anywhere mentioning that it's a geneticaly unique creature.

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nan, not necessarily, even TC (tissue culture) can't guarantee absence of the variances. Look at the hostas world. Sport after sport after sport.
    That makes it all much clearer. Thanks Ego.

    General discussion/classification of Hydrangeas most often seems limited to plant size and blossom color. I took a few photos this am and noted blossom petal size and shape and nuber of petals per blossom play an equally important role in the plants over all appearance.
    Saw toothed petal on Altona


    Note how nicely the petals completely encircle each blossom on Tokyo Delight

    Lilacina the petals are not as tightly wrapped as above giving a lighter/airier over all appearance.

    Notable about Claude is the petal shape is more elongated with smooth edging larger petal size and occasional double rows of petals.

  • diggingthedirt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Glad you brought this up, Katy, because I remember noticing some mophead varieties in your garden that had wonderful petal shape - ruffled, almost. I've been concentrating on color, but the 'petal effect' is just as important.
    I admit to having a lot of nondescript Nikko-types, and although they're overused and garishly bright, they certainly provide color in shaded situations. The color can be deepened, supposedly, by adding iron to the soil, and the most offensive turquoise tones can be helped by adding lime.

    This is one of my favorite Nikko-types, for color and texture. Wish I knew the variety.

    Dee mentioned little Pia - this is my first year for these, and I do love the deep red and the small size. I picked up 2 last fall and will add at least 2 more this year... just need to clear out some space to make a row of them. I can't seem to capture the color with my camera, unfortunately ...

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, DTD, I had trouble capturing the color on Pia also. I did take some photos, but still having trouble uploading - darn computer! Mine only put out about half a dozen blooms this year, but the color is spectacular, and the bush itself is doing wonderfully well.

    Katy, gorgeous pics! I said above that I don't know a lot about, and I don't have a lot of, hydrangeas, but that will have to change soon I think. Your photos made me drool!

    :)
    Dee

  • diggingthedirt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dee, have you tried Picasa? At google, under the "More" link, click on "Photos" and you can download the application that grabs the pics from your camera and uploads them into a web album. You need a free google account to do it, but it's the easiest way to go, IMHO.

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi again, DTD. Well, I re-downloaded the software for my camera, so that should do it, but it's just not working. Maybe I'll try the Picasa. I'm getting disgusted with my "fixed" computer. I should have left it broken! It worked better then than it does now.

    Thanks for the suggestion.
    Dee

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Katy, great closeups!
    Did you noticed that on your Lilacina all florets have a single petal that is larger than the others?
    I don't grow L myself and don't know if this is a specific feature of this particular cultivar, but for Grayswood this IS a cultivar-specific and always helps with ID (when in blooom).
    Every of the four-petaled florets MUST have one petal that is larger than the other three

    Ayesha's popcorn-looking florets as well as very shiny leaves are distinct and can't be mistaken for anything else. If it would only bloom reliably :-((

    And here is my puzzle,
    King George (which is the mophead) this year produced a few flowers on one and only branch which could be called a semi-lacecaps. I'm taking cuttings from this branch and try to see if old King is up to something :-))


  • triciae
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here's my h. 'Homigo' hedge with the variegated mixed in. Sorry, I can't ever seem to figure out how to get the pixs in the post so I have to do links...

    'Homigo' is definitely a lighter & clearer blue than Nikko or at least in my garden.

    Tricia

  • triciae
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    More of 'Homigo'...

    /T

  • triciae
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    New wood blooms forming...

    /T

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ego,
    I LOVE LOVE LOVE 'King George' I think you have something special there. Please keep us posted.
    Dee mentioned little Pia - this is my first year for these, and I do love the deep red and the small size
    I love 'Pia' as well but it is not as small as you might be thinking 4'x4'. I was fooled by its purported dwarf size and last year had to move them all back off of the brick path. The blooms you see now are all on old growth the new growth is just beginning to reach the top of the shrubs and will put on another 6-12+ inches. Ideally they are probably best planted so the center of the shrub is 3' off of the brick walk.


    Tricea I love your 'Homigo' interesting that it is already producing blooms on the new growth and as I mentioned above the new growth on my 'Pia's' is just now reaching the height of the old growth. Hmmm I suppose that should be yet another criteria for choosing a Hydrangea.

  • diggingthedirt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great path, Katy! Thanks for the info. 2.5 feet, that's what it says everywhere I look. Tsk, tsk. And mine is about 1' from the brick, but that's a paved area that's a little larger than necessary, where I don't mind losing a foot or 2 of brick under something green. I see, though, I'll have to rethink that area.

    Is that Nepeta Walkers Low, and what's the other blue flower, between the Pia and the Nepeta? Can't tell if its lavendar or stokesia, or what ... but its a great blue! Is this path in more or less full sun? It's really lovely.

  • jackz411
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Tricea, Go to the below link where ego45 gives me a short primer on posting pic's. Works just fine and very easy,
    Cheerio, JKhttp://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydra/msg0711110015445.html?15

    ps: It's in the middle.

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yesterday I visited a z6a/5b garden whose owner is a more nuts about hydrangeas than me and going thru the lenghty and labor intensive overwintering process every year.
    And we are not talking about a few plants....more than a hundred of them.
    Just a few pictures.
    Simple, but effective

    The largest stand of H.serrata Blue Billow I've ever saw. Probably more than 12' long and 6-7' deep. Reliably blooming without protection since first planted (about 1998)

    And this is the 'Wedding Cake' composed out of 20+ pot-grown (10 to 25G) hydrangeas of all kinds and stacked on top of each other along the stairs from the house to the patio. About 12-13' tall if not more composition

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    After becoming frustrated with the hardiness of my Hydrangea macrophylla Ayesha, I took a 4" cutting and gave it to my sister who lives in central Florida, then threw my shrub in the compost pile. The beautiful blossom looks more like Lilac than Hydrangea.


    It took my sister just two short years to grow this shrub from a 4" cutting. An interesting note is she does not fertilize her Hydrangeas. I am sooo jealous.

    dtd,
    The someday hedge of plants closest to the brick path are Teucrium chamedrys germander, behind those are an annual that I currently am experiencing brain freeze about. After your recommendation re 'walkers low' I did go out and buy some but it has become the dogs favorite plant to sit on, run through, and relieve himself on so it's hardiness is still being tested.
    Ego,
    Your friend has some really beautiful plants I particularly like the "wedding cake". Thanks for sharing.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Have been enjoying all the hydrangea talk. :-) Photos especially. That hedge of hydrangea was very pretty, runktrun. ego, I just loved that photo of all the containers of hydrangea and the way they were displayed was just such a surprise..lol. Two really exciting ideas using one of my favorite shrubs. :-)

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here's my Pink 'Endless Summer' w/ Ville de Lyon Clematis growing up through it:

    and here's my 'Penny Mac'.

    Both seem to be hardy for me here.

  • claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This photo of "Blue Billow" is a few weeks old, but I was startled by the number of bees on the flowers. I'd never really noticed that bees like hydrangeas. I can see at least six here.

    That's a leaf of the Hosta "Blue Angel" which is blooming next to the hydrangea.

    Claire

  • diggingthedirt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    NHBabs, Ville de Lyon is a great companion for that hydrangea - perfect color. Do you add lime, or are you in one of those natural limey areas?

    Claire, love that Blue Billow with Blue Angel! I think the bees only go for the fertile, inner flowers on lacecaps, they leave mopheads alone since all the florets are sterile - maybe there is no pollen? I used lots of mopheads around my pool when my kids were small, since their friends were all afraid of bees and I wanted lots of color there in summer.

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nan, you are correct in your assumption, bees only go for the sterile flowers, so no bees could be seen on mopheads.

    NHBabs, your picture of 'Endless Summer' w/ Ville de Lyon almost made me wish I have alcaline soil :-)
    Interesting coloration on Penny, almost white. Is that right?

    Last week picture of z8-9 (possibly 10-11-12, who knows) hydrangea Angel Robe (Frau Kinue) from Halo series.
    I have no clue how Hines make them bloom for the selling benches, but with all my efforts (overwintering in a warm place in a pot with additional bubble wrapping) it produced (finaly!) one single bloom after 2 years of no-blooms. It's indeed banner year for it. LOL.
    At least it's distinctly different

    And here is my little 'hydrangea pruner', who 'collects' hydrangeas in her own way

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sorry,
    ' bees only go for FERTILE flowers...., so no bees could be seen on mopheads.'

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just to show Preziosa's flowers in transition
    7/7

    7/13

    7/28

    in another two-three weeks it will be completely burgundy and stay like that till October when it become russet.

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks to everyone for the lovely photos! Since I live up here in the frozen north, I can't grow most of the macrophyllas, so I've been drooling.

    Dtd & George - The Ville de Lyon growing through my Endless Summer is a product of my slowness in getting the trellis finished and up. I actually have quite acid soil, but it's too sandy where they are for good plant growth since there's no water available, so I used well-rotted horse manure, plopped by the tractor bucket 8 " deep right on top of the sand. I mulched it with wood shavings (the bed is next to the family woodshop) to keep the weeds down. I guess the horse manure must still be somewhat basic, and since I didn't mix in the native fine sand at all, the blooms are pink. I'm interested to see if over time the color changes on the Endless Summer as the worms and burrowing rodents do their thing and the soil gets more mixed. I do have rhodies in the same area, some in the same unamended manure and some in beds where I mixed the manure into the soil before I got too lazy. The rhodies are all thriving, so it might be a lack of aluminum (?) that keeps it from turning blue. I guess I'll have to try starting a few cuttings and play around with where it's blue and where it's pink. The Penny Mac in the same bed is a mix of cream, pale pink and pale blue, but I don't know if it is pH dependent. (Of course, I could always do a pH test . . . )

  • littleonefb
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In 25 years, my hydrangeas have never been as full of blooms as this year.

    On another thread Ergo identified them as "true niko blue".
    A lucky find in a grocery store purchase around easter time, 26 years ago.

    This years 2 main plants. I have 2 smaller ones from stems that I rooted in the ground from the main stems and they are bigger than ever, as well. 4 of my neighbors have plants from my 2 originals and they have gotten huge as well.

    My 2 main plants






    But the real shock is my neighbors hydrangea. She bought, what appeared to be the same 2 hydrangeas that I did. We bought them together on the same day.
    Heres grows every year since she planted it, but it has never bloomed since purchase. That is until this year. We assumed that it never bloomed because she got one that wasn't really hardy to our climate and all she would get is leaves.
    I teased her all winter that we should buy some artificial blue hydrangea blooms and stick them in the shrub.

    Well low and behold, look what popped out on the hydrangea over this past weekend. No where near the original color and sure is small,but it is a real bloom, not artificial.
    We couldn't believe our eyes.

    This is what it normally looks like every year since the first spring after it was planted, minus that white spot.



    And this is what we found. Just this one bloom, no sign of any other's but it's blooming.






  • diggingthedirt
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow, your neighbor is one patient person. I don't think I could wait that long for a flower! I'm glad her patience was finally rewarded.

    I think your assumption was right about this one, hers must be a marginally hardy "sport" - don't you think? Unless it's planted in a particularly bad position or is otherwise not getting its cultural requirements met. This winter was really mild, at least if you ask the plants in my garden.

  • ego45
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    While Macrophillas look little bid tired already (at least here after two weeks of the heat with no rain) Paniculatas are in a full swing right now.

    Here is the link to 'Paniculata's High Season' thread on Hydrangea forum

  • runktrun
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't know if it is my melancholy or perhaps 2008 hydrangea bloom is not as spectacular as 2007. Might be a wee bit premature, I'll check back in a week or two. kt

  • portlandhigh
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow those are great picutres...Has anyone has problems with the endless summer varieties? Mine have not bloomed.