16 Hardy Hydrangea Varieties 🌿💜// Garden Answer

hey guys how's it goin in today's video I want to talk about hydrangeas so it's winter right now we're in full-on garden planning mode so I thought it'd be fun just to talk about some pretty plants because I know typically by this time of year my plant list is really long like I'm so excited to get out and get going I've got spring fever also there have been so many varieties of hydrangeas introduced into the market over the last several years and maybe you only have experience with some of the older type of varieties some that maybe you haven't had good luck with maybe they flop over every summer and look kind of like a mess or maybe you've just heard that they are hard to grow that's the reputation that they have in my area so to pick the right variety to start with one that's reliable and easy to grow will really help out and I'm hoping that this video helps with that so I'm going to be showing you guys 16 different varieties of hydrangeas today they're all beautiful and they all fall within two categories so we're gonna be talking about hydrangea arborescens are also called smooth or native hydrangeas and then also hydrangea paniculata x' that are also called panicle or PG hydrangeas all 16 of these varieties do have a few things in common so first of all they're all Hardy down to zone 3 which means they can withstand temperatures in the winter down to negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit and they're all heat tolerant to zone 8 one of the 16 is heat arm to zone 9 and I'll tell you about that one when we get to it they also all bloom on new wood which means they set their buds in bloom during the current growing year so that means harsh winters deer grazing on them or those of you gardeners out there who are quick to prune probably won't hurt their ability to bloom their improved varieties as well so they're improved in stem strength growth habit bloom size and color I have a really great size comparison chart that will throw up here real quick we will put it at the end of the video too because it will make a little more sense to you once I've gone through all of the varieties but it's just really nice to see them side-by-side so you can really tell which one would fit nicest in your garden and all the blooms make for great cut flowers either fresh or dried for arrangements so those are all the traits that all of these hydrangea share in common now I want to get into each individual one the first eight on my list are part of the hydrangea arborescens group or the smoother native hydrangeas really quick history so this type of hydrangea came about in the 1960s when the classic Annabelle type hydrangea came about many of you guys know what that one looks like it's a nice big white hydron but there were some things that really were not great about it so the stems were not strong enough to hold up the bloom so that one tends to flop over and just look messy it also grows to an enormous size so it's very hard to fit into some spaces and they only came in one color so the 8 that I'm gonna show you our vastly improved versions from that original Annabelle so the first one is called incredible this is a beautiful hydrangea they grow about 4 to 5 feet tall and wide huge blooms like bigger than your head size blooms the first time I saw this one planted in Mass we were in a trial garden in Michigan and it was planted in a huge long hedge that kind of lined a driveway kind of curved and it was the most stunning hedge I've ever seen to date they have very strong stems so they won't flop over even though they have such huge blooms next one is called incredible blush basically the same as the incredible but it's the pink version but it's a very unique color of pink it's kind of a chrome pink if that makes sense and they bloom deep deep into fall so you get this beautiful show for most of the summer and fall and next is the invincible spirit - which grows about 42 to 48 inches tall and wide and this is an improved version from the original pink arborescens it has improved stem strength deeper pink color and a really nice rounded growth habit so it's just a really pretty shrub all on its own like as a standalone in the garden and it's a crazy rebloom er they just rebloom all throughout the season into fall and I think the really cool part about this one is that a dollar is donated for every one of these that sold to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and they have donated over a million dollars so far next is lime Rickey which grows about 4 to 5 feet tall and wide and this one is incredibly sturdy so in their trial gardens they had one of these planted right below a greenhouse cutter they had about 4 hours of just pouring torrential rain and that plant was getting pelted by that downspout coming out of the greenhouse for all 4 hours and it was not phased not a single branch broken super strong plant the color is really unique they're kind of a luminescent green they start out kind of creamy colored and then they deep into a jade and so they kind of have this marbleized effect and then on the top of each floret they're topped with pink pollen so they're just a very unique looking hydrangea and green goes with everything next is invincible we white and this one is just cute it's a dwarf sized hydrangea that grows about twelve to thirty inches tall and wide covered with white beautiful blooms that almost look like a bouquet out in the landscape and I just love this one because of the size because I think it gives the ability for a lot more gardeners to use it in their landscape because maybe you have a very small garden and you love hydrangeas but you don't have the space to put something that's going to get really big this one affords you the opportunity to get a hydrangea planted somewhere in your yard and then there's invincible ruby that grows about three to four feet tall and wide and this one's a nice medium-sized shrub so it's very easy to find space for this type of hydrangea as well they have very rich deep ruby red flowers so I think that this one would be excellent for both cutting and drying because if you cut them at the right time you can maintain that color in your dried arrangement and the flowers start in summer and go all the way through fall next is invincible lime meta which also grow about three to four feet tall and wide so very nice medium-sized shrub I planted a very long hedge of these last fall very excited to see what they do this year and I love the color of green I love the green blooms we have a white house I think that green goes with any other color that you put near it and I think it'll contrast off of our White House beautifully and the last hydrangea arborescens is called invincible mini Moffitt and they grow about 30 to 36 inches tall and wide and the flowers are truly mobbed they're kind of this moody pink purple color but the foliage is also extremely interesting I think it's a very deep green and very deeply toothed leaves the stems are really sturdy and they hold up the blooms just beautifully and they bloom summer through Frost the next eight varieties are types of hydrangea paniculata also called panicle or PG hydrangeas if you think you have a black thumb these type of hydrangeas are the ones you should be growing they're a little bit more Sun tolerant than most of the other hydrangeas and they seem to be a little bit more adaptable like we live in Eastern Oregon have super high alkaline soil and I've grown several of these varieties and they do really really well for us and their blooms also undergo kind of a natural coloring process so many of them start out white and then as the season progresses they take on pink and red and kind of green tones naturally soil chemistry has nothing to do with it the first one is called limelight with I'm sure many of you are familiar with this is the best-selling panicle hydrangea in history for very good reason I think I've got some planted here and they have just performed beautifully they grow about six to eight feet tall and wide and this one is the one that's a little bit more heat tolerant so it can take up to a zone nine so they get huge of mophead flowers like this year I had one that was about this tall and they opened this creamy white and then they kind of turned this chartreuse e green and then toward fall they take on tones of pink burgundy a little bit more green they're just beautiful if you pick them cut them at the right time during the summer you can dry them and they'll maintain that color or you can let them just kind of naturally Brown on the plant and I cut them and use them in holiday projects all the time they're just gorgeous and if you love the limelight but you just don't have room for that big of a plant you can go with the little line which grows about three to five feet tall and wide same beautiful flowers same beautiful color just on a smaller plant next is called fire light and this one is really interesting it grows about six to eight feet tall and wide the blooms start off white and then quickly turn a really deep red color so you get a really long time to enjoy that deep color instead of waiting closer to fall when the temperature starts to change so it makes a really great cut flower earlier on in the season stems are really really strong and it's just a really beautiful kind of compact dense looking plant and then there's the quick fire hydrangea which grows about six to eight feet tall and wide this is the earliest blooming panicle hydrangea and it's got a lot of really neat features so it's got a white lace cap bloom that quickly turns to a deep true red the leaves are heavily corrugated so that has a very really distinctive texture and the stem that holds the leaf so the stem right beneath the leaf that holds it on to the branch is a really bright red so you kind of get a different kind of look from this plant and it's got a really pretty fall color which is kind of rare in this species and then there's a little quick fire so you get all the same benefits that you get with the quick fire with the white blooms that turn red the really neat stem color fall color but you've got a scaled down version at just three to five feet tall and wide next is in findell which grows six to eight feet tall and wide and they have huge mop head flowers really full and fluffy that emerge a pure white color and then they start to age a deep pink from the bottom up so you kind of get this really pretty ombre effect they have very strong stems just a really outstanding hydrangea next is pinky-winky and they grow about six to eight feet tall and wide and this one has the largest blooms of any paniculata just huge beautiful flowers that start off the white color and then they age into a pink usually from bottom up kind of like the Quickfire but they're a little bit more open than the Quickfire type hydrangea those ones are a little bit more full these also attract butterflies like crazy when they're in bloom I was able to find some and get them planted in my garden last year I even found a couple in tree form so I'm very excited to see what they do this year and see them bloom again they also have very thick sturdy stems and the last paniculata is called a bow bow so they grow about two and a half to three feet tall and wide so a nice compact more dwarf sized hydrangea beautiful frilly mop head blooms that start white and kind of aged to a soft pink and any hydrangea that stays on this smaller side it's a really good option for smaller gardens or smaller hedges or even for containers alright guys so that's all 16 that was a lot but it is winter time this is the time of year to really pour through a varieties of plants and decide what you want in your garden and I'm hoping that this video maybe inspired you to put some hydrangeas in yours I would love to know what your favorite is of all 16 of these which ones do you want in your garden let me know in the comment section thank you so much for hanging out with me today and watching this video and we will see you in the next one bye [Music] [Music]

Channel: Garden Answer

Views: 944,771

Rating: 4.9363623 out of 5

Keywords: Garden, Answer, Laura, Flower, gardening, gardener, beautiful, succulents, diy, grow, green, Proven, Winners, Fall, Winter, summer, spring, plant, planting, growing, plants, succulent, shrubs, shrub, bush, soil, dirt, earth

Id: dDkKaE2SFWs

Length: 10min 31sec (631 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 12 2019