New favorite hydrangea cultivars?

[Anonymous]

I think that Flowerfull could be a good choice. I'm also a big fan of smooth hydrangea (Flowerfull is a smooth hydrangea cultivar), but have two other cultivars, Haas Halo and Invincibelle Spirit II - they were both highly rated in the Mt. Cuba Center wild hydrangea trials (https://mtcubacenter.org/trials/wild-hydrangea-for-the-mid-atlantic-region/). Haas Halo is wonderful because of all the pollinators that are attracted to it, since it's a lacecap type with a high percentage of fertile flowers. I'm not sure if any of the newer mophead smooth hydrangea cultivars retain any of the fertile flowers or not. You could easily plant a combination of Haas Halo and Flowerfull for the best of both worlds. Haas Halo does get larger - closer to 6ft x 6ft. Since smooth hydrangea blooms on new wood (the current year's growth), you can control the size of the shrub by cutting it down completely to 12" tall in late winter (early March). Blooming on new wood also means that you'll never have the major problem the traditional Asian hydrangea macrophylla varieties have - that sudden cold snaps can kill of all the buds for next years' blooms.

I'm in Anne Arundel County near Annapolis and have very sandy soil with a deeper clay layer. All the smooth hydrangeas have grown very well for me. They appreciate moist soils. I also have them in areas with morning sun/afternoon shade and other areas where they get nearly full sun and they do equally well. I watered them often during the drought last year - they did fine although some of the leaves got a bit ratty. This year I haven't watered at all and they all look good.

Incidentally - I've had mixed results with oakleaf hydrangeas. I've lost a couple in the first year, which also were years we had sudden hard freezes. They tend to be slower growing and a little slower to get established than the smooth hydrangeas. But once they decide to live, they do really well. Some of my neighbors have huge old ones (the 'Alice' cultivar which can get enormous).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that Hydrangeas on the whole are not native to VA/MD?
These are the two native ones:

Oak leaf (Hydrangea quercifolia)

Wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens)

Both have white flowers. Oakleaf hydrangeas are native to the southeastern US. Wild hydrangeas are native to our area. Of the wild hydrangeas, some are lace caps and some are mopheads.

Please do not plant more invasive species. We already have enough to deal with.

Hydrangeas are not invasive. How silly.

They stay in one spot and don't take over the yard.

You can ignore a hydrangea for years, and it will still be in the exact same spor when you return.