{"title":"Hydrangeas","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe genus name comes from the Greek for water vessel, \u003cem\u003ehydor\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eangeion\u003c\/em\u003e, and refers not to the famous thirst of the plants but to the small cup-shaped seed capsules that follow the flowers. Both readings turn out to be fair. Hydrangeas wilt theatrically on a hot afternoon and recover by dark, and the ones grown here are chosen for taking a Southern summer with more grace than most.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFour groups do the work. \u003cem\u003eHydrangea quercifolia\u003c\/em\u003e, the oakleaf, is a Southeastern native and the best of them for this climate, with panicles that age to rose, cinnamon bark peeling on older wood, and burgundy fall color; 'Snowflake' carries doubled sepals stacked along the panicle like a bloom within a bloom. \u003cem\u003eHydrangea arborescens\u003c\/em\u003e 'Annabelle' flowers on new wood and forgives a late freeze. The lacecaps and mopheads of \u003cem\u003eHydrangea macrophylla\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eHydrangea serrata\u003c\/em\u003e shift blue or pink with soil pH, acid ground pushing them toward blue. Give the whole group morning sun, afternoon shade, and soil that holds moisture.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hydrangea-arborescens-annabelle","title":"Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’","description":"\u003cp\u003e'Annabelle' is a wild American shrub with a hometown. Around 1910 two sisters, Harriet and Amy Kirkpatrick, spotted an unusually full-flowered smooth hydrangea in the woods of Union County, Illinois, dug the plant, and grew it in their garden in the town of Anna. For half a century the shrub passed hand to hand around southern Illinois as a nameless local treasure, until the University of Illinois plantsman Dr. Joseph C. McDaniel traced the trail back to Anna in the 1960s, selected the plant, and released it for sale in 1962. The name 'Annabelle' honors both the town and the Kirkpatrick belles who found the shrub: Anna plus belle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBehind the cultivar stands Hydrangea arborescens, the smooth hydrangea native to woodland slopes and streambanks across the eastern United States. 'Annabelle' is simply the most famous garden selection of that native, a deciduous shrub of three to five feet, wider than tall, that opens enormous rounded heads of creamy white sterile florets, snowballs the size of a dinner plate, in early summer. The heads age softly to green and can be cut for drying. Michael Dirr, the dean of American woody-plant horticulture, remembered McDaniel as a true plantsman and gentleman, and 'Annabelle' remains the shrub's quiet monument.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe species carries a deep ethnobotanical history under an older name, Seven-bark, so called for the way the stems peel in successive layers of color. Cherokee, Creek, and other southeastern peoples used the root and root bark as a diuretic and a remedy for kidney and bladder stones, a tradition later taken up by the Eclectic physicians of the nineteenth century, and the plant earned the folk name kidney-bush along the way. The leaves and buds, by contrast, contain cyanide-releasing compounds and are not for eating, a reminder that this is a plant with a serious past rather than a garnish.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the garden, 'Annabelle' is generous and forgiving. Because the shrub flowers on new wood, a hard late-winter cut to a foot or so returns bigger blooms without any risk to the show, making this one of the most reliable hydrangeas for cold gardens where old-wood types freeze out. Give the plant good soil that stays moist, a little afternoon shade in hot regions, and room to spread into a low colony. The white heads light up a shady border, a foundation planting, or the edge of a woodland, and the strongest stems hold the flowers up after summer rain.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057885417587,"sku":"HYDR-ARBO-ANNA-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-380.jpg?v=1720138645"},{"product_id":"hydrangea-macrophylla-all-summer-beauty","title":"Hydrangea macrophylla ‘All Summer Beauty’","description":"\u003cp\u003e'All Summer Beauty' answers the oldest complaint about mophead hydrangeas: that a single hard freeze or an eager pruner can wipe out a whole season of bloom. Where classic bigleaf hydrangeas flower only on old wood, this compact selection, three to four feet high and wide, blooms on both old and new growth, so the rounded heads keep coming through the season and return even after a winter that kills the older stems. The name is a promise the plant generally keeps.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHydrangea macrophylla, the bigleaf or French hydrangea, came to Western gardens from Japan and remains the hydrangea most people picture: glossy, serrated leaves and dense mophead clusters of sterile florets. 'All Summer Beauty' carries the family's famous party trick, flowers that read the soil. In acid ground the blooms turn clear blue, in alkaline ground they shift to pink, and the color can be nudged either way by adding sulfur for blue or garden lime for pink. Few garden plants wear their soil chemistry so openly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe species has a quiet ceremonial life in Japan, where a closely allied sweet-leaved hydrangea furnishes amacha, a sweet tea brewed from fermented leaves and poured over statues of the Buddha each spring to mark his birthday. The ornamental mopheads are not that tea plant, and hydrangea leaves in general contain cyanide-releasing compounds and should not be eaten, but the association gives the genus a gentle place in the culture of its homeland beyond mere decoration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the garden, 'All Summer Beauty' suits the smaller border, the foundation planting, and the large container, and the bigleaf clan's noted tolerance of salt air makes the shrub a fixture of seaside gardens. Give the plant morning sun and afternoon shade in hot regions, steady moisture, and shelter from drying wind. Deadheading spent globes encourages a fresh flush, and a mass of the blue or pink heads reads beautifully against a dark wall, a hedge, or the green of a shaded bed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057885712499,"sku":"HYDR-MACR-ALL-SUMM-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-381.jpg?v=1720138658"},{"product_id":"hydrangea-x-preziosa-pink-beauty","title":"Hydrangea x 'Preziosa'","description":"\u003cp\u003e'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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCompact 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057885745267,"sku":"HYDR-PREZ-PINK-BEAU-01G","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-391.jpg?v=1720138662"},{"product_id":"hydrangea-macrophylla-mariesii","title":"Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Mariesii’","description":"\u003cp\u003e'Mariesii' is a piece of hydrangea history still in commerce. In the late 1870s the English plant hunter Charles Maries, collecting in Japan for the famous Veitch nursery, sent home the first lacecap hydrangea to reach the West, at a time when European gardeners knew only the round mopheads. That introduction, named 'Mariesii' in his honor, opened Western eyes to the wild, flat-topped grace of the lacecap and became the parent of a whole line of classic cultivars, among them 'Mariesii Grandiflora', 'Mariesii Lilacina', and the blue 'Mariesii Perfecta'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhere a mophead crowds every flower into a solid ball, a lacecap tells the truth about how the flower head is built. Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mariesii' spreads a flat, delicate plate of tiny fertile flowers across the center, then rings the edge with a lace of large, showy, sterile florets, the whole effect airier and more naturalistic than the mophead. Like all bigleaf hydrangeas, the plant reads the soil: acid ground turns the florets blue, alkaline ground shifts them toward pink, and gardeners can steer the color with sulfur or lime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe bigleaf hydrangeas carry a quiet cultural history in their Japanese homeland, where a sweet-leaved relative yields amacha, the fermented-leaf tea poured over images of the Buddha each spring; the ornamental garden forms are not that tea plant, and hydrangea foliage should not be eaten. Unlike the wholly sterile mopheads, the lacecap's true flowers at the center offer nectar and pollen, so 'Mariesii' earns the visits of bees and other pollinators that a snowball hydrangea cannot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the garden, 'Mariesii' brings an old-fashioned, woodland-edge softness that the mopheads lack. Set the shrub in a shaded border, along a path, or against a dark backdrop of evergreens where the pale lacecaps seem to float, and give the plant morning sun with afternoon shade in hot climates. Trim faded heads to tidy the shrub and coax a later flush, keep the soil moist, and hold the pH below six if a true blue is the goal. Four to six feet high and wide, the shrub settles easily into a mixed planting without taking over.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057885876339,"sku":"HYDR-MACR-MARI-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-383.jpg?v=1720138668"},{"product_id":"hydrangea-quercifolia-alice","title":"Hydrangea quercifolia 'Alice'","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe oakleaf hydrangea is the great four-season native shrub of the American Southeast, and 'Alice' is one of the grandest selections of the species. Hydrangea quercifolia grows wild in the rich woods and ravines of a small range centered on Alabama and Mississippi, where the naturalist William Bartram found the shrub in the 1770s and called it singular and beautiful. Alabama later made the oakleaf hydrangea the official state wildflower, a rare honor for a plant that earns attention in every season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Alice' came from the University of Georgia campus, selected by Michael Dirr, the most influential woody-plant horticulturist of his generation. The result is a very large shrub, ten to twelve feet high and as wide, that carries some of the longest flower panicles of any oakleaf, white cones ten to fourteen inches long that open in early summer, age to soft rose, and dry to warm tan on the branch. Few native shrubs give so much scale and presence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe name quercifolia means oak-leaved, and the big, deeply lobed leaves are the plant's other signature, dark green through summer and turning deep burgundy-red, purple, and bronze in fall, holding that color for weeks. When the leaves finally drop, 'Alice' reveals cinnamon bark that peels in papery sheets, so the shrub stays handsome straight through winter. Flowers, foliage, and bark give four distinct seasons of interest from a single plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGive 'Alice' room to become the large, rounded specimen the shrub wants to be, at the corner of a house, along a woodland edge, or as the anchor of a shaded shrub border. Fertile, moist, well-drained soil suits the plant best, in shade or half shade, or even full sun where mulch and water keep the roots cool. The fertile flowers within the panicles draw bees and butterflies, and the whole shrub reads beautifully against evergreens or a wall that shows off the white summer cones and the burgundy of fall.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057886105715,"sku":"HYDR-QUER-ALIC-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-387.jpg?v=1720138671"},{"product_id":"hydrangea-quercifolia-harmony","title":"Hydrangea quercifolia 'Harmony'","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe oakleaf hydrangea is the great four-season native shrub of the American Southeast, a large deciduous plant with oak-like leaves, white summer panicles, and peeling cinnamon bark. Hydrangea quercifolia grows wild in the rich woods of a small range centered on Alabama, where the naturalist William Bartram admired the shrub in the 1770s, and where the oakleaf is now the official state wildflower. 'Harmony' is one of the boldest selections the species has produced.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Harmony' carries one of the better origin stories in the oakleaf world. The shrub was discovered in a church cemetery near Rainbow City, Alabama, by the father of the plantsman Joe McDaniel, and later introduced to the trade by Eddie Aldridge and his father. What makes 'Harmony' unmistakable is the flower: enormous, dense heads of sterile florets, packed up to a foot long, so heavy they arch the branches under their own weight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThose massive heads divide opinion. 'Harmony' has both ardent admirers, who love the sheer abundance, and detractors who find the heavy, solid cones a little too much of a good thing. Either way the shrub delivers the rest of the oakleaf package: big, deeply lobed leaves that turn burgundy and bronze in fall, and cinnamon bark that peels away for winter interest once the leaves drop.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSite 'Harmony' where the weighty white heads can be seen and where the arching branches have room, at a woodland edge, in a large shaded border, or against a green backdrop that sets off the white. Fertile, moist, well-drained soil in shade or part shade suits the shrub, or full sun with mulch and steady water. Prune only just after flowering, since the plant sets the coming year's buds on old wood.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057886204019,"sku":"HYDR-QUER-HARM-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/HydrangeaquercufoliaHarmonyWoodlanders-4.jpg?v=1750639500"},{"product_id":"hydrangea-quercifolia-snowflake","title":"Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowflake'","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe oakleaf hydrangea is the great four-season native shrub of the American Southeast, a large deciduous plant with oak-like leaves, white summer panicles, and peeling cinnamon bark. Hydrangea quercifolia grows wild in the rich woods of a small range centered on Alabama, where the naturalist William Bartram admired the shrub in the 1770s, and where the oakleaf now serves as the state wildflower. 'Snowflake' is one of our favorites, and one of the most distinctive oakleafs ever selected.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFound and named by Eddie Aldridge of Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, 'Snowflake' carries double flowers: each sterile floret sits layered behind another in overlapping, imbricated bracts, so the long fifteen-inch panicles look stacked and full, like drifts of snow caught on the branch. As the flowers age they take on rose and antique-pink tints, and the doubled bracts hold on far longer than a single-flowered oakleaf.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBehind the flowers stands the rest of the oakleaf's four-season show. The big, oak-lobed leaves turn deep red, purple, and bronze in fall and hang on for weeks, and the cinnamon bark peels in papery curls once the leaves drop, keeping the shrub handsome through winter. Now widely grown in Southern gardens, 'Snowflake' has earned the reputation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe long, heavy panicles show best where they can be seen up close and given room, at a woodland edge, in a large shaded border, or beside a path. Plant 'Snowflake' in fertile, moist, well-drained soil in shade or part shade, or full sun with mulch and steady water, and prune only just after flowering, since next year's buds form on old wood. Against a dark green backdrop the white doubled cones seem to glow.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057886269555,"sku":"HYDR-QUER-SNOW-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-389.jpg?v=1720138678"},{"product_id":"hydrangea-serrata-woodlander","title":"Hydrangea serrata 'Woodlander'","description":"\u003cp\u003eHydrangea serrata 'Woodlander' is a Woodlanders introduction with a story, a compact, small-leaved mountain hydrangea grown from seed collected at the Chollipo Arboretum in Korea and selected here for real garden charm. Daintier than the big bigleaf hydrangeas, this is a refined shrub of two to four feet, carrying flat lacecap flower heads of clear blue in acid soil, ringed with showy sterile florets around a center of tiny fertile ones. The serrated leaves take on a handsome purplish cast that deepens toward autumn.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike all the mountain hydrangeas, the color of the flowers answers to the soil: blue where the ground is acid, as it is in the Woodlanders beds, and shifting toward pink where the soil turns alkaline. The lacecap form is more than pretty, for the ring of fertile florets at the heart of each head draws bees and other pollinators that the sterile mophead hydrangeas leave hungry. Bloom comes in early summer, on wood formed the year before.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis little hydrangea has grown well for us in semi-shade, in well-drained, acid soil with steady moisture and a bit of irrigation through dry spells. Hardier and more sun-forgiving than the bigleaf kinds, the mountain hydrangeas still bloom on old wood, so prune only right after flowering, and site the plant where late frosts are less likely to nip the buds. In autumn the small leaves flush red and purple, a quiet last act.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet Hydrangea serrata 'Woodlander' in a shaded or part-shaded border, a woodland edge, a foundation planting, or a large container, where the blue lacecaps and purplish foliage can be enjoyed at close range. Compact and well-mannered, the plant suits small gardens and mixed shade plantings, and the fertile florets keep the bees coming all through the bloom. For a refined, pollinator-friendly hydrangea with a real Woodlanders pedigree, this seed-grown selection is a quiet gem.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057886597235,"sku":"HYDR-SERR-WOOD-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Hydrangeaserrata_Woodlander_BrokenArrow.jpg?v=1784324885"},{"product_id":"hydrangea-quercifolia-alison","title":"Hydrangea quercifolia 'Alison'","description":"\u003cp\u003e'Alison' is a sister selection to the famous 'Alice,' both drawn from the same native species by the same discerning eye. Hydrangea quercifolia, the oakleaf hydrangea, grows wild in the rich woods of a small Southeastern range centered on Alabama, where the naturalist William Bartram admired the shrub in the 1770s and where the oakleaf now serves as Alabama's official state wildflower. Of all the native shrubs of the region, few offer so much across so many seasons.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMichael Dirr selected 'Alison' on the University of Georgia campus, alongside 'Alice,' and the two make an instructive pair. Where 'Alice' grows tall and grand, 'Alison' spreads broader and more horizontal, a large shrub with long white panicles held over wide, arching branches. The flowers open white in early summer, blush to rose as they age, and the plant finishes the year in excellent burgundy-red fall color.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe deeply lobed, oak-like leaves that give the species its name turn deep red, purple, and bronze in autumn and hang on for weeks, and when they drop the peeling cinnamon bark keeps the winter shrub interesting. 'Alison' offers the full oakleaf sequence, white cones in summer, burning foliage in fall, and exfoliating bark in winter, on a frame built more for breadth than height.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe spreading habit makes 'Alison' a natural for covering ground along a woodland edge, softening the base of a wall, or filling a broad, half-shaded bed where the arching branches can reach out. Give the shrub fertile, moist, well-drained soil in shade or part shade, or full sun with mulch and water, and let the fertile flowers feed bees and butterflies through summer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhotos courtesy of Dr. Michael Dirr.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057887154291,"sku":"HYDR-QUER-ALIS-01G","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/hydrangeaquercifoliaalisonflowernca.jpg?v=1724266925"}],"url":"https:\/\/woodlanders.net\/collections\/hydrangeas.oembed","provider":"Woodlanders","version":"1.0","type":"link"}