Fabulous new hydrangeas
There are countless reasons to love Hydrangeas: their long-lasting, showy flowers offer gradations of color, they provide year-round interest, and there are so many varieties to choose from that you can find one to suit virtually any situation. Hydrangeas are consistently the most popular shrub we grow and are only increasing in popularity. Much of this is probably due to extensive hybridization over the last several years that has produced cultivars with increased cold hardiness and increased tolerance to alkaline soils and sunny conditions, which has made their use much more successful for us in the Midwest. We love hydrangeas, and we are especially excited about three brand new Proven Winners® varieties that we began growing this year and will be available for 2021.
Hydrangea Quick Fire Fab™ blooms early like Quick Fire®, and is actually the earliest-blooming of the paniculata types. The flowers age similarly to Vanilla Strawberry™, starting creamy white and progressing to watermelon pink, but are held up on the strong stems associated with Hydrangea paniculata. They grow 6-8’ tall and wide. We have our first crop of Quick Fire Fab™ available now, and we can’t wait to see what they look like in spring.
Fire Light Tidbit™ is similar in habit and bloom count to Bobo®, but the flowers age nicely from white to pink to red, starting to bloom in mid-summer and turning pink in late August with the cooler temperatures. As you might guess, Tidbit™ stays compact, only growing 2-3’ tall and wide, making it perfect for tucking into small spaces or even containers. We will have our first crop of these available in June of 2021.
Limelight Prime™ offers a more compact habit than the original, growing only 6’ tall and 4’ wide, and an earlier bloom time, with green flowers starting in mid-summer and aging to pink and red in August. The fall flower color of Limelight Prime™ is also denser and more saturated than the classic. Like Fire Light Tidbit™, we will have our first crop of Limelight Prime™ ready to go in June of next year, just in time for the flowers. Since these are all panicle hydrangeas, they should be pruned in late winter or early spring.
Of course, there will always be a place for the classic varieties like ‘Annabelle’, ‘Unique’, and ‘Tardiva’, and the newer varieties that have quickly become staples, like Quick Fire®, ‘Limelight’, and Fire Light®. But when it comes to Hydrangeas, you can’t have too many. We have had a lot of success with the other Hydrangeas to come out of the Proven Winners® program and so we are thrilled to be adding these three to our lineup.
