Hydrangea x 'Preziosa'

'Preziosa' is a small, jewel-like hydrangea with a tangled pedigree and an unusual gift. Raised in Germany from the nursery tradition of Georg Arends and introduced around 1961, the shrub is a hybrid of Hydrangea serrata and Hydrangea macrophylla, and catalogs list the plant under all three names depending on which parent they favor. Whatever the label, 'Preziosa' behaves like a compact mophead, three to four feet high and wide, built for a smaller garden.

The flowers are the reason to grow this shrub. Small, rounded mophead clusters of sterile florets open pale and cream, then move through pink to cherry-red and finally to a deep wine-red as summer turns to fall. Unlike the familiar bigleaf hydrangeas, whose color answers the soil, 'Preziosa' runs through this progression more or less regardless of pH, so the multicolored effect turns up in almost any garden.

The plant is well dressed even between color changes. The serrate leaves emerge flushed with purple, mature to green, and return to red and purple tints in fall, and the whole shrub is carried on dark maroon stems that set off the shifting flower color. 'Preziosa' also brings better winter hardiness than many mopheads, reliable to zone 5, which widens the range where a color-changing hydrangea can be grown.

Compact size makes 'Preziosa' easy to place: a small shaded border, a foundation planting, a large container, or the front of a mixed bed where the changing heads can be watched week to week. Give the plant rich, evenly moist, well-drained soil in part shade, with full sun allowed only where the soil stays reliably moist. A little afternoon shade in hot regions keeps the flowers and the dark stems at their best.