vfem
Garden Addicted
I've never got the oak leaf version!
I only have the snowball and the lace. :/
I only have the snowball and the lace. :/
oak leaf hydrangea
- Thread starter bj taylor
- Start date
Hello, bj. I got soaked last night with almost 1/2" of rain (the small 30% chance of rain panned out for me this time! Ha!); and 1" earlier this week so I hope you guys caught some of that as it seemed to be coming from a south to SW direction.
The oakleaf hydrangea is hardy to Zone 5 vfem so, consider it if it will work for you. There are basically these three shapes amongst the hydrangea blooms... mophead blooms, which look like round balls or half moon blooms (what you call snowballs); lacecaps; and conical as in the oakleafs and paniculatas.
What I like about the oakleafs is that they are slightly more drought tolerant than other hydrangeas, a plus in my area, and the leaves turn shades of red or purple or whatever colors in the fall. But... they can get root rot in a jiffy if allowed to stay in wet soil for long periods of time. Unfortunately, for some weird reason, most places locally just carry an oakleaf variety called Alice. Only. So after trying Alice and getting root rot on an awesome rainy year, I am trying a dwarf called Pee Wee and may look at two other dwarfs called Ruby Slippers and Munchkin. So far, so good with Pee Wee. There are other oakleafs that look great too but are hard to find, even by mail. Snowflake is an example.
I have also been trying to grow paniculatas here and it remains a work in progress. The big problem here is finding them locally as few plant nurseries carry paniculatas. I could order them by mail but I hate ordering hydrangeas that are not blooming because you cannot really tell what did you get until they bloom again. When they have no blooms, the shrubs -usually- all look alike. I found a new place that has a few paniculatas so I decided to try.
Paniculatas are a great choice in cold locations as they are winter hardy to Zone 3. They can withstand more sun than other hydrangea varieties, but to a point. I would say that in Zones 8 or + or in the lower half of the country, leaves will suffer if given afternoon sun. But they are nice tough shrubs. You can grow some of these as trees (some get 20' high). On trips to the northeast (MA, NH, etc) to see my MIL, I saw many of these trees while taking car trips... they were in full sun! (the sun is weaker there than it is here in TX).
But alas, my first attempt at growing Quick Fire was a dud. I planted it where it would get moisture from my drip irrigation system, only to discover that I had no drip irrigation in that area.... Needless to say, I kept tweaking the drip system and not getting any water to it so it eventually dried out. Oops! Try, try again. These are currently on my radar: Little Lime (a dwarf of H. paniculata Limelight with nice green long-lasting blooms), Quick Fire (an early flowering H. paniculata), Vanilla Strawberry (nice fall magenta color).
Hope y'all get rain, Luis
The oakleaf hydrangea is hardy to Zone 5 vfem so, consider it if it will work for you. There are basically these three shapes amongst the hydrangea blooms... mophead blooms, which look like round balls or half moon blooms (what you call snowballs); lacecaps; and conical as in the oakleafs and paniculatas.
What I like about the oakleafs is that they are slightly more drought tolerant than other hydrangeas, a plus in my area, and the leaves turn shades of red or purple or whatever colors in the fall. But... they can get root rot in a jiffy if allowed to stay in wet soil for long periods of time. Unfortunately, for some weird reason, most places locally just carry an oakleaf variety called Alice. Only. So after trying Alice and getting root rot on an awesome rainy year, I am trying a dwarf called Pee Wee and may look at two other dwarfs called Ruby Slippers and Munchkin. So far, so good with Pee Wee. There are other oakleafs that look great too but are hard to find, even by mail. Snowflake is an example.
I have also been trying to grow paniculatas here and it remains a work in progress. The big problem here is finding them locally as few plant nurseries carry paniculatas. I could order them by mail but I hate ordering hydrangeas that are not blooming because you cannot really tell what did you get until they bloom again. When they have no blooms, the shrubs -usually- all look alike. I found a new place that has a few paniculatas so I decided to try.
Paniculatas are a great choice in cold locations as they are winter hardy to Zone 3. They can withstand more sun than other hydrangea varieties, but to a point. I would say that in Zones 8 or + or in the lower half of the country, leaves will suffer if given afternoon sun. But they are nice tough shrubs. You can grow some of these as trees (some get 20' high). On trips to the northeast (MA, NH, etc) to see my MIL, I saw many of these trees while taking car trips... they were in full sun! (the sun is weaker there than it is here in TX).
But alas, my first attempt at growing Quick Fire was a dud. I planted it where it would get moisture from my drip irrigation system, only to discover that I had no drip irrigation in that area.... Needless to say, I kept tweaking the drip system and not getting any water to it so it eventually dried out. Oops! Try, try again. These are currently on my radar: Little Lime (a dwarf of H. paniculata Limelight with nice green long-lasting blooms), Quick Fire (an early flowering H. paniculata), Vanilla Strawberry (nice fall magenta color).
Hope y'all get rain, Luis
- Thread starter
- #14
bj taylor
Garden Ornament
rain. what a fabulous thing. the ground is wet, the trees are watered, the garden is growing. rain. it's a pure miracle!
vfem
Garden Addicted
I've had plenty of that 'miracle' and I am glad to have a break from it.
Luckily my hydrangeas LOVE all the moisture. I have them planted where the roof run off goes. I have tons of pots under my lacecap right now, and bricks holding branches in them. I get so many rootings from these babies! I have to get a few together for some friends who want some. I've taken cuttings and transplanted 2 bushes already. Its becoming a bad habit.
Luckily my hydrangeas LOVE all the moisture. I have them planted where the roof run off goes. I have tons of pots under my lacecap right now, and bricks holding branches in them. I get so many rootings from these babies! I have to get a few together for some friends who want some. I've taken cuttings and transplanted 2 bushes already. Its becoming a bad habit.
Nyboy
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I picked up 4 lime light on clearance 3years ago. I planted 2 in each in 5 foot planters. Winter had almost set in I didn't have much hope for them. Not only did they live, they put on a amazing flower show. One of my favorites in my garden.
Nyboy, I saw an amazing picture of a hedge made of Limelights. Spectacular when in bloom. But those guys get very large. The ones in the pictures must have been well past 6' high. How high are your potted Limelights after three years? Has this forced you to trim/prune them?
Nyboy
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They where small when first planted, and the planter so large that so far no pruning need. Don't know how long that will last.
