Hydrangea

An outstanding selection from Mt Kiyosumi in Japan, this is distinguished by russet and burgundy tones to the new foliage and the lacecap flowers are the perfect complement to that foliage with the sterile florets being white in the center of the flower and blushing into a distinct pink rim. In our shade garden, we have this paired with our collection of Rhododendron falconeri subsp. eximium with its vibrant rusty brown-orange tomentum and both plants play off of one of David Eisenhour's exquisite bronze's which in this case is the seed of a Zulu Daisy. www.eisenhoursculpture.com. The combination has its share of moments of perfection during the growing season.

From the southern portion of its range, this collection has performed wildly beyond expectations given the low bar set from the dormant plants in the wild where they were 8'-10' tall in full exposure. We seldom name plants but this selection is worthy with profuse bee-laden white flowers from top to bottom.

This gets more than its share of attention in our shade garden causing people to completely ignore the poor Gaultheria x wisleyensis on the other side of the path. Gold washed, flecked and stippled foliage with light pink lacecap flowers. An excellent Japanese selection.

If this is the new wave then I'm a bitter old codger, and I pray they don't mean to drag down the euphoric music genre down with em. It's not often you're growing hydrangea for a foliage plant, but for those who lust for the over-the-top, flamboyant, gaudiness that only the most outrageous variegation can provide, fear not your soulmate has found its way to you. Flowers are relatively subtle lacecaps compared to most marketed macrophyllas. The leaves however feature screaming yellow margins, with a variable cream inner border and natural green center making for a definite conversation starter, just please leave Depeche Mode out of it for my sanity.

This is a pretty interesting selection of climbing hydrangea we received from the intrepid plant hunting duo of Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm Nursery in Wales. They collected this on a plant hunting trip to Sikkim and found this in the forest near the town of Yuksom. This has the typical small coral-green lacecap flowers and will self-adhere to a wall or tree-trunk as do the others but what sets this selection apart is the generally evergreen leaves which turn purple in the winter. Admittedly, Crug is in a mild portion of Wales which helps with the evergreen nature but what a nice bit of unexpected ornament. This was not collected at a particularly high elevation and we have no idea how hardy this will prove to be but for that sheltered spot in need of winter interest, gotta try it! Especially if grown on a wall, hardiness should be greatly improved and we expect this to be good to zone 7 anyway.

Collected by Crug Farm in the high mountains of Yakushima, this is a rare variety of climbing Hydrangea that is much reduced in size. This self-clinging vine has tiny dark-hued terrestrial leaves as it clambers about on the ground and over boulders but once it finds a likely tree trunk, it will climb to 10' or more with larger leaves and white lace-cap flowers in early summer. If you are looking for a smaller climbing Hydrangea, look no further.

Serious business here. Martin Grantham of San Francisco hybridized the Mexican seemanii and the Chilean serratifolia to take these two evergreen climbing Hydrangeas to another level of plant nerd necessity in this vigorous child of an inspired horticultural round of matchmaking.

When you think Hydrangea you mayyyy think climber if you are particularly nutty botanophile, but certainly unlikely. I can all but guarantee you that you aren't thinking both climber and native to Chile, but here we are with one that fits just that bill. Glossy evergreen leaves and plumes of white to pale-yellow flowers composed almost entirely of fertile florets. Rare in the UK and nearly non-existent in the US, this is one to cure those made nauseous by the endless sugar-sweet hybrids churned out by the big nurseries and breeders that represent the genus in common parlance.

Species recently introduced from Vietnam and hardiness not known but warmer zone 8 and above is safe. Well worth taking a chance on as the lacecap flowers have that little sumpin' sumpin' that made this the staff favorite here. White sterile flowers surround fertile florets of pink to indigo depending on pH and clonal differences.

A superb form of this variable species obtained from the former Quarryhill Botanic Gardens. Green elliptical leaves pair nicely with the large flattened corymbs of white fertile flowers which are sporadically fringed in over-sized pure white sterile florets. This owns a spot in perpetuity on our personal list of faves.

Evergreen Hydrangea vine which superglues itself to the trunks of Douglas Firs like they were made for each other. This will climb skywards to 20' and lighten the forest shade with its lacy 6" wide white flowers. Best if watered in summer and given good rich soil. Beauty.

A Mexican self-clinging evergreen climber or if left unsupported, it develops arboreal stems which will support it as a large shrub. Grown this way it will send out questing branches looking to climb but they are easy to nip off. Great for a north wall or Doug Fir. White lace caps in July.