The golden age of hydrangeas
As far as we can tell, the gardening world’s obsession with Hydrangeas shows no sign of fading anytime soon. With breeders developing and marketing improved varieties each year, there is always a new Hydrangea coming down the pipeline to get excited about. It’s easy to understand why these versatile shrubs continue to be so popular and why we grow more varieties of Hydrangea than any other single genus; they’re low maintenance and they look good all summer. We admit that the sheer number of varieties in production, along with the number of new varieties introduced each year, can make it overwhelming to distinguish between them at times, for everyone from growers, to retailers, to homeowners. But the thing we love about the constantly expanding line of Hydrangeas is that each new variety fills a niche in the landscape, whether it’s an earlier blooming variety, or a more compact cultivar that will fit into smaller spaces. All this breeding means that you can find a Hydrangea to fit any size landscape, and you can design a landscape to include blooming Hydrangeas almost all summer long.
In recent years, there has been considerable breeding of Hydrangea paniculata varieties, and that has prompted criticism from some who say the market is already cluttered with panicle Hydrangea introductions. But what we love about these recent introductions is they have allowed us to extend the season with early and later blooming varieties. Quick Fire® and Quick Fire Fab® are the earliest blooming panicle Hydrangeas available today. Both of these large shrubs are flowering by late June to early July (and even earlier in years like this one), about three to four weeks earlier than other paniculata Hydrangeas. The original Quick Fire® flowers open white and mature to rosy pink. Quick Fire Fab® was new this spring, with large, football-shaped flowers that start white and age to watermelon-pink from the base to the tip. The flower clusters of Quick Fire Fab® are much tighter and denser than the original Quick Fire®, and they have a unique textural quality that sets them apart.
Fire Light®, Little Quick Fire®, and Bobo® are next, blooming in early to mid-July, reaching 8’, 5’ and 3’ tall, respectively. Fire Light® makes an impressive specimen with its large stature, but if you don’t have space for Fire Light®, Little Quick Fire® and Bobo® are two dwarf options that pack a similar punch.
As the flowers on the early-blooming varieties begin to age and take on their pink and rose fall colors, the later blooming varieties, like Pinky Winky®, Little Lime®, Fire Light Tidbit™, Limelight Prime™, and the classic ‘Limelight’, are just getting started. ‘Limelight’ has stood the test of time, but Limelight Prime™ was developed to bloom earlier and fit into smaller spaces. The tiny Fire Light Tidbit™ grows to only 2-3’ tall, but its dense flowers and fall foliage color keep it looking good right up to the first frost. And we can’t forget ‘Tardiva’; this stately shrub is one of our favorites and one of the last Hydrangeas to bloom, growing up to 15’ tall and flowering well into September.
While the mention of another new Hydrangea introduction may make some critics roll their eyes, I think we can all agree that Hydrangeas are a great gateway plant for new gardeners; they’re low maintenance, not intimidating, and the dwarf varieties are a perfect solution for small spaces. We are excited to look past the marketing and evaluate the new introductions on their own merit, to determine which varieties truly add something unique to the landscape.
