Hydrangea quercifolia 'Alison'

'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.

Michael 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.

The 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.

The 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.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Michael Dirr.