Hydrangea Garden Tour | Gardening with Creekside

Hey friends welcome to Gardening With Creekside  today we are going to take a hydrangea Garden   Tour I am going to take you and show you all of  the different hydrangeas that we have growing and   blooming in our North Carolina Zone 7B Gardens  both here at the nursery and also at the house   sometimes growing hydrangeas in the South can  be a little challenging because of our heat   and humidity hydrangeas do fantastic in cooler  climates but when you start to go south and you   get into those higher zones and with the Heat and  the humidity hydrangeas can struggle so my goal   today is to share with you hydrangeas that have  Faithfully performed really well in our Gardens   and I want to share an article with you from The  Proven winter color Choice folks they obviously   are a wonderful knowledgeable people on growing  all shrubs they have massive amounts of hydrangeas   and so they have put out an article on kind of  like the successful tips on how to grow hydrangeas   in the South I will have it linked in both the  video description and the comments so check   that out they go through hydrangeas by type and  tell you the pros the cons what zones they will   go to different varieties within that series and  just some great tips on growing hydrangeas in the   South so make sure you check that out also grab  your garden journal because as we go to all the   various different hydrangeas I'm going to give you  obviously beautiful pictures with them video and   then the basic growing information that you will  want to know right so their name their zones their   height their size all of those different kinds of  things so grab your garden journal get comfy get   your favorite beverage and let's have fun looking  at hydrangeas now I will also say uh we are on day   five of lots of rain here in North Carolina we've  had over six inches of rain this week alone and   according to the radar it's not raining but guess  what it is raining so I wanted to share these   hydrangeas with you also so that you can see how  they look after having so much rain because that   can be sometimes a complaint of gardeners is that  hydrangeas can be floppy with the rain so what we   have behind us is um three absolutely beautiful  quick fire hydrangeas quick fires are a panicle   type of hydrangea this is year four that they have  been in the ground they're entering their fourth   season here at the nursery it is um in a back  corner behind the aqua pots behind the barn quick   fires get really big obviously right so this is a  beautiful specimen that is in full bloom and your   Pinnacle hydrangeas will have even though their  panicles will have different types of balloon   so quick fire has a very open habit see how Airy  those blooms are so with six inches of rain look   how floppy this is is not right so because they  have those open flower petals the water can go   through there and they are not floppy also panicle  hydrangeas bloom on New Growth it is extremely   important to prune your panicle hydrangeas once a  year late winter going into spring you never want   to cut the hydrangea back by more definitely no  more than half right the safe area is one third   to one-fourth of the total plant size when  you prune it by no more than a half right   one-third one-fourth of the plant size that is  where you get your beautiful strong stems because   they have time to really get nice thick thick  stems and can hold up those Gorgeous Flowers   oh this has been the Talk of the Town this season  so far are these three hydrangeas this is not on   irrigation they are highly neglected but you can  see that they are beautiful one is obviously a   little bit bigger than the other two who knows why  I mean there really is no telling why but still   just gorgeous and you can see with these quick  fires that they are already starting to take on   a little bit of some pink Hues which is fantastic  and the pollinators love this plant they are all   over it but look nice look how big just that one  little flower petal is right so that one petal   nice cluster so here we have quick fire hydrangeas  and we're going to move on to the next one   Invincible rubies are a wonderful hydrangea for  your part shade garden invincibles are a smooth   hydrangea or a hydrangea arborescence and so  what does that mean well it means that they   too Bloom on New Growth which we absolutely  love because it means you are guaranteed to   have flowers every year and that's a bell Ruby is  a color specific hydrangea meaning that your soil   pH is not going to affect your Bloom color so Ruby  guess what yes she is a beautiful ruby red and I   have another one right here that has some some  newer blooms on it you can see again after six   inches of rain Yes this one is slightly downturned  because of right those big huge fat bloom heads   but it's not laying on the ground so Ruby will  start out here a nice really rich red and then   as they age they'll take on a little bit more  of kind of a creamy white pink mauve whatever   you want to call it right so you will get some  variation on the plant with your invincibels now   the rubies um are a part of that Invincible  series and there are a lot of great other   varieties within the Invincible series they  tend to be the nice and small so when I say   small in that three-ish foot range Bloom on New  Growth we love that and on the tag it will say I   think it's sun to part sun this is where you're  going to have to be a student of your own garden   in the South I it was actually these hydrangeas  these specific hydrangeas I had in the full sun   what I call the Gatsby gal bed we're gonna go  there in just a minute and they were in full   all day sun on irrigation they fried I mean they  were toasted I was like okay this is clearly not   working dug them up moved them down here and they  have done really really well they get Morning Sun   and then they are in the shade in the afternoon  if it wasn't raining they would currently be in   the Sun so they probably get four to five hours of  Morning Sun and then they're in a break from the   afternoon sun these are not on irrigation so that  gives you an idea because I want to tell you what   is on irrigation what is not on irrigation so that  you can see exactly what it's going to look like   the only time these get watered is when it rains  so Invincible rubies I really now that I know how   to grow them in the morning sun afternoon shade  one of my absolute favorites I mean it is just an   absolutely gorgeous hydrangea beautiful make great  cut flowers so Invincible Ruby it is a great one   next on our list is a quick fire Fab we just saw  quick fire and now we have the newest addition to   the quickfire family quick fire Fab these are  baby hydrangeas they have not even been in the   ground for a year these will get to be about  six to eight feet tall and five to six wide   so these are like I said these are babies and  but look at those beautiful blooms now you will   notice that quickfire Fab has a very different  Bloom structure than quickfire this is what we   call a mop head panicle look how nice and tight  those flower petals are completely different than   the quick fire which has that really open habit  this is a nice tight habit on it also side note   don't know if you can see can you see that little  honeybee that's underneath the leaf she's trying   to stay dry bless her heart so quick fire Fab it  is also one of the earliest the blooming panicle   hydrangeas so that means that you're going to  extend your Bloom season in your garden by about   two weeks but quick fire Fab is just a beautiful  one we actually have three of these here in the   berm so we've got one two and then we have a third  one right over here as well and we have them on   both sides of the berm they are gorgeous plants  and like I said not even in the ground for a year   if we planted them as three gallons these are  going to be full to part sun gorgeous plants as   they mature of course they're going to get bigger  and showier and just absolutely stunning so you   can see back here again I know that the blooms are  slightly downturned but I mean six inches of rain   in a couple of days I think they're looking pretty  darn good considering considering the amount of   excuse me is considering the amount of rain  that we have gotten so quick fire Fab fantastic   um it's kind of what I would say as far as  the size you have quick fires are the biggest   quickfire Fab is next then we have a little  quick fire we're going to look at the house   and there is a tiny quick fire that we also have  that just came out onto the market we're going to   show that to you next not next in a minute next  we're going to hop up over here and look at some   Oakley pad ranges and some just classic industry  standard ones as well here we have ruby slippers   it is a nice petite Oak Leaf hydrangea this is at  the entrance to the nursery in the Woodland Garden   again they were planted this late late winter and  they have done really really well now completely   different hydrangea type of hydrangea that we have  looked at before so this is like I said an oak   leaf hydrangea I think you can probably understand  why it's called an oak leaf it is oak leaves are   going to be typically more shade hydrangeas they  have those beautiful nice big Oak Leaf shaped   leaves on them that will turn a beautiful red in  the fall ruby slippers is going to be shorter than   and then she's going to be a lot wider so we have  five of these no four of these excuse me I can't   count four of these right here at the entrance  as you can see the new blooms are going to have   a beautiful creamy white and then they are aging  to a little bit of a lime green with a little bit   of some pink in there oak leaves will Bloom on  Old growth so it is absolutely the best not to   prune them you want to put your Oak Leaf where  they can just grow to their maximum potential   and just leave them alone if you have to prune  them now would be the time to do it so you would   want to come in and you would want to trim right  here above these two leaves that way it's going   to Branch out but typically you want to give oak  leaves their maximum amount of room to grow so   that way you don't have to come back and prune  them because they bloom on Old growth you just   want to let them go and just enjoy the ride for  those beautiful blooms we're actually starting   oh do you see that what is that brightness in the  sky I think the sun's trying to come out oh that   would be glorious man I tell you what now on the  other side of the fence you will see we have got   some big huge mop head creamy white hydrangeas  these are the classic Annabelles Annabelle is   another smooth hydrangea just like your Invincible  Ruby and like I said this is kind of the industry   standard a very classic classic hydrangea again  it is color specific so you're guaranteed to have   those creamy white blooms the complaint about  Annabelle's is kind of what you see right now   after massive rain or any kind of rain the blooms  are so heavy and the stems are so weak that they   will flop over they do have Gorgeous Flowers I  mean like look how massive that bloom is right   so what you can do is come in here and go ahead  and trim it right yes they're a little dirty   because they were they laid down but if you came  in here and clipped them and used them for some   beautiful like Arrangements in your you know make  bouquets out of them right then they should have   time here in the South to reflush Annabelles  are like I said that smooth arborescence they   can technically says full sun but again in  the South if you can give them some shade   afternoon shade that is best these are have been  newly added to irrigation they've been here gosh four years whenever this bed was created four  years five years so just have been added to   irrigation they are doing better because they  have more growth obviously because we're getting   a little bit more consistent water I water them  basically um once a week when it's not raining   for about 45 minutes nice slow drip I want to show  you I wasn't even thinking about this one but back   here in the back we have another Oak Leaf this is  Alice and Alice is another like classic Oak Leaf   hydrangea this is this is one plant so you can see  nice and big Alice does get rather large she is   just now starting to put on her blooms so she's a  little bit behind the ruby slippers but still that   nice beautiful creamy white flowers she does get  bigger I have all those specs for you up there but   putting out some new growth and looking just fine  so oak leaves are really fun for your shade garden   um just make sure that when you're looking at  your different cultivars that you know your mature   size and give them the room to get that big Alice  right here can get as big as she wants she can get   massive and huge because some of them do my mom  has one I'm not sure if it's an ALICE but she has   an oak leaf that is easily I mean she's massive  we're going to show it to you in a garden tour   um real soon so anyway Oakley packed range is  fantastic now we're going to bump on down to   the house and show you a lot more here we are  at the house I'm going to share with you some   really fun different hydrangeas here all right  so without further Ado let's get this going   these are not in the ground clearly obviously  right so this is puffer fish and I have three   beautiful puffer fishes that I grabbed in the  nursery because I'm going to plant them up at   the chicken coop in the next coming days puffer  fish is new to the market saw this last year at   Spring Meadow Nursery who is the home of the  proven winter color Choice shrubs look at this   massive like this this right here is one bloom  gorgeous huge panicle blooms again notice how the   Habit on this one again is very very open it is  very light very airy the rain can get through it   these were sitting on the shrub lot they had  been for a while and look how upright and tight   they are really nice strong strong sturdy stems  beautiful creamy white blooms puffer fish is fun   because what's going to happen is once this Bloom  this bright this whole flower head gets really   full it is going to put a little tuft on the end  so it's going to have a little sprig of a flower   here on the end puffer fish is really a fun plant  it will it is a panicle blooms on New Growth you   prune it late winter going into spring that way  you keep it nice and strong and you encourage   that growth so pruning your hydrangeas at the  right time is extremely important I will both   the article from the PW color Choice has talked  about pruning and I will link a video that we   did gosh early on in our YouTube career where it  talks about when you prune certain hydrangeas so   I will link that because knowing when to prune  your hydrangeas is very very important so puffer   fish is a beautiful new addition I do have one  behind the fountain but I'm excited to add these   three to the Garden as well we're going to move  up here to what I call hydrangea Hill because   and ignore the weeds real life here people we're  going to tackle this as soon as it stops raining   we have two different hydrangeas here on  hydrangea hill we have here in front this is   little lime and a little lime is going to be  obviously within that Limelight family and it   is going to be a satanical hydrangea three to  five feet tall and wide I have a nice kind of   hedge of them right here yes they are not blooming  yet so your hydrangeas bloom at different times   full sun but they are just a little bit behind  I wanted to show them to you anyway that they   will be obviously have cream and lime in there  together a beautiful great cut flower plant   these have been here both these guys and the  ones I'm getting ready to show you the fire   lights have been here for um four four years five  years this might be their fifth year going in   started out on irrigation these are currently not  on irrigation just because we moved it around and   they are nice well and established and doing great  little limes just a great great hydrangea Pinnacle   hydrangea love them next we have the fire lights  fire lights oh I do adore them and we've got let's   see three five of them right here fire lights are  going to be large so they're going to be about   that same size as like your quick fire and your  limelights nice and big clearly a little bit of an   earlier Bloomer right and fire lights panicle open  Airy look to them and they will actually be one of   the few hydrangeas the Pinnacle hydrangeas that  will turn a beautiful malvi rose color to them   if you are a southern Gardener and you look at the  pictures that even Proven Winners themselves right   that they show us of these gorgeous hydrangeas  in the fall and they will be shades of Reds and   pinks and just all these gorgeous colors and  if you think you know what am I doing wrong my   Pinnacle hydrangeas go from this beautiful creamy  white and then they just like turn brown like what   am I doing wrong you're doing absolutely nothing  wrong it is because of our heat and humidity it's   specifically our nighttime heat and humidity  because here in the South when you get to July   and August it does not cool off at night right  our nights are very very sticky the plants need   time to recover just like we need time to recover  well we can go in our air conditioning house the   plants cannot and so they will go ahead and go  most of the time they will start to turn brown   when you are in cooler climates we were at Spring  Meadow this past fall and their panicle hydrangeas   were unbelievably gorgeous because they were all  of those beautiful pinks and reds and mauve colors   it is what it is y'all this is one of those Perils  of living in the South there's a lot of benefits   of living in the South but our Pinnacle hydrangeas  not turning colors is one one of the downsides   Fire Light however for me if somebody's going to  turn it's going to be Fire Light not that really   vibrant color that they show but it will have  those pink Hues to it firelight is a great nice   big full sun Pinnacle hydrangea that will give  you loads and loads of color now we're going to   hop on down because we've got an oak leaf and some  more panicles to show you next on the list is lime   light Prime Limelight Prime is a new addition to  the Limelight family it's kind of what I call a   little bit of the like the teenager of the series  right um beautiful Pinnacle hydrangea that has   these nice creamy white with a little bit of lime  to them blooms that are blooming right now I have   five of these in this flower bed this is the one  that is the furthest along right now Limelight   Prime is going to be taller than it is wide so  for me having them as a backdrop so they go around   what we call the Gatsby gal bed because we're  going to get to that in a minute because they're   going to be back here in the back so they give  me a backdrop but they're not going to be nearly   as massive and tall and take up as much room as a  limelight hydrangea a little bit of the different   like I said more upright than it is wider love  that about them and so last year was they've been   in the ground right about a year this is where I  had the Invincible rubies got way too much sun but   the Limelight primes are doing really nice so if  you have a narrow Sunny Spot that you're looking   to add a hydrangea then you might want to consider  Lime Light Prime we talk about that this is called   the Gatsby gal bed that is because the star of the  show right now is Gatsby gal and it's how I can   distinguish this flower bed this is my only Gatsby  gal Oak Leaf hydrangea that I have in my garden   Gatsby gal oak leaves are going to be the most  Sun tolerant Oak Leaf hydrangea especially here   in the South she gets full sun sun up to sun down  and she is on irrigation doing really really well   where we talked about that oak leaves tend to be  more shape tolerant Gatsby gal can do the sun now   yes you can do more shade as well but you can see  she has already been that creamy white and now   she's starting to take on some of her pink hues  really enjoy this plant it has been in here since   we did the bed just a couple of years ago this  should be her third year in the flower bed but   it also is going to be more of a manageable size  it is not going to be a massive Oak Leaf hydrangea   like Alice so a nice size tour can do the sun is  on irrigation so if you're going to have her in   the air in the full sun I would recommend that you  put it on irrigation so in this flower bed we have   those two we have the Gatsby gal and then we have  those Limelight primes now let me show you some of   oh my goodness I absolutely love this hydrangea  let me show you this next one as a side note   one of the perks of having beautiful shrubs and  perennials that can handle rain because yeah the   petunias six inches of rain in four or five days  not looking so hot they look terrible right now   they have gotten beat down massively from all  of this rain but do you know what is looking   spectacular right now yes my friends this is  little lime punch little lime punch newish to the   market I have had this will be the um it's been in  the ground two and a half years this will be its   second full season in the garden Proven Winners  sent this to me three years ago late summer and   they actually sent me three I lost one one is  where this puffer fish is here in the middle   but I lost one these two did really well and oh my  goodness y'all I absolutely adore this hydrangea I   think you can probably understand why little lime  punch is they call it punch because it's supposed   to have that beautiful like red punch to it and  it will if you are in cooler climates here in the   South it does not get nearly the red color that it  will in cooler climates however honestly it's fine   with me I don't care because look at this plant  six inches of rain strong strong sturdy stems and   when I say that these blooms are tight and massive  and compact I am not exaggerating like look at   this just thick thick and they are just starting  to really take on their color that creamy white   color and they actually start to Glow they really  is like this glowing fluorescent white color in   the garden especially at dusk oh my goodness we  have a little friend on one of the tops of the   um look at him I hope you I hope the camera  is picking this up but we have a little friend   right there look at it Sweet Little Thing  sorry for that Paul's I had to take a little   picture of him he's too cute but little line  punch is going to be that three to five feet   tall beautiful like you can see even this one  which is really interesting right um so this   Bloom that you can see right here at the very  bottom starts to have a little bit of pink on it   um but I do I absolutely adore this hydrangea  even if it does not turn pink for you   um I I love it because it is so strong it is so  sturdy full hot hot baking sun it is on irrigation   it is here right beside the fountain I'll give  you from the other side of the perspective here   um of what it looks like so they are just going  to fill in so beautifully puffer fish here was   added late last summer so you can see that it is  smaller even than the ones that I have in my three   gallons because I planted it as a one gallon  but eventually puffer fish is going to catch   up and these are all going to be about the same  size at three to five feet tall and wide little   lime punch y'all I'm telling you if you see it  at your local Garden Center grab it it is a great   one next we're going to move on to Incredibles  incredible hydrangeas are the improved version   of Annabelle's it is a smooth hydrangea it is  an arborescence now yes absolutely is this one   incredible a little floppy sure is um are they  all laying flat on the ground absolutely not   these have only been in the ground for um maybe  two months and so we um they do not have not   gotten really strong and established as of right  now so keep that in mind but Incredibles look can   you understand why they have the name that they  have massive huge creamy white blooms they do have   stronger stems than the Annabelle's full sun so  incredible can do full sun here in the South and   we have had them in the full sun and do really  well now you might remember that if you are a   faithful Watcher of Creekside Nursery gardening  with Creekside that this is our second go at The   Incredibles because we lost our first ones and  I always tell you that I try to be as open and   honest with you as I possibly can and that I  share my messes and my successes with you we   have best best determined that we lost our  Incredibles because we used a pre-emergent   around them and that pre-emergent was not a  good idea around hydrangeas and between the   pre-emergent trying to control weeds because we  do have eight and a half acres here and you can   clearly see that weeds are an issue for both us  and any other Gardener out there in the world   um and so we had used a granular pre-emergent and  the hydrangeas did not like it at all and so that   is what we can best determine that happened  to The Incredibles so lesson learned don't   use pre-emergent around your hydrangeas they are  extremely sensitive to that but if you have your   hydrangeas that tend to be that do not pop up so  if it will stop raining for a hot second then I   will know once these blooms dry if I can go ahead  if they're going to pop back up or are they going   to stay down now if they stay down because I mean  look at that look at all that water on that so   once everything dries out if they pop up then I  will leave them alone if they stay where they're   going to be downturn and more like this one right  here where they're laying down then what I'm going   to do is I'm going to come in and I am going to go  ahead and prune them can you see those that little   foliage right here if you go ahead and prune right  above there this and this is going to turn into   a stem it's going to take the weight off of your  flower don't throw it away make a bouquet out of   it but trim it right here this stem will pop back  up and be nice and upright and then the plant is   going to Branch out and this stem below that you  just pruned is going to be nice and strong and   sturdy so you can see an example as far as it  was pruned right here and then you have these   two stems right there so if you were to prune  it here right above these two leaves then this   becomes a branch and this becomes a branch that is  how you get stronger sturdier stems and it's going   to take a little bit of time they've only been in  the ground for maybe two months right you have to   be patient as a gardener so Incredibles beautiful  nice smooth arborescence full sun on irrigation   can absolutely do it here in the South if you are  further than I am in a Zone 7B probably want to   go ahead and give them a little bit of shade in  the afternoon so you'll just watch it and if they   start to burn just move them you'll be all right  all right I have one last hydrangea to show you is   not blooming but it's a classic and we cannot  do a hydrangea tour without talking about it   the last hydrangea we're going to talk about today  is the absolute classic limelight hydrangea I have   had this limelight hydrangea in this spot here  just to give you a little perspective it is just   right off of the backyard beds right so we were  just right up there with The Incredibles patio   backyard and then here along the wood line we  have a limelight this plant I probably bought   as a three gallon and it was probably 13 years  ago that it that I bought it it is massive it is   huge I know because I'm filming myself today  so I am 5'2 I'm standing in front of it and   there you go so it is a huge massive Beautiful  Beast of a hydrangea it is listed as a sun to part   sun hydrangea and it does the largest panicle  blooms you have ever seen in your life she is   still growing right for this year it is we've  had a very pretty much a Cool Spring and it is   still growing quite rapidly now to give you an  idea of panicle again blooms on New Growth let   me show you if this will work here all right can  you see right here this limb see that little that   V shape so that's where it was trimmed and then  look how much it has grown this season y'all I'm   not exaggerating that's close to three feet like  it has already grown three feet of growth on this   year alone you will notice that the Limelight  this Limelight I have kind of trained it's not   I wouldn't even call it a standard I did  this at a necessity because this bed is   um we're trying to reclaim it but there was tons  of weeds underneath it and in order to prevent the   weeds from growing and climbing up the hydrangea  over the past couple of years I have come in and   just limbed it up so what does that mean how did  I do it well right here is a great example so you   can see how massive this root is okay but not the  root the trunk is rather so this is my hand right   gives you an idea just how huge this thing is big  huge huge strong strong stems so what I did is as   this growth was here I come in I'm going to try  to snap it I don't have my I don't have my pruners   all right I can't do it um so you clip this right  so you clip and clip you don't want any of that   growth you could even come in if you wanted to  and prune right here however I don't I need it   to seal in more on the back side so we're going to  keep that but like coming over here see right here   I'm going to prune that off so I keep all of any  kind of New Growth off of this that way it keeps   it limbed up if you want to do a standard I guess  you would find your strongest leader and go with   it I've never made a standard we we buy them  as standards already but Limelight hydrangeas   absolutely what I would say is the classic kind of  industry standard this is the one that really led   the way for panicle hydrangeas revolutionized how  people thought about hydrangeas how they approach   them that they can do the sun because classically  they hydrangeas have always been shaved so this   is like I said she is a beautiful Beast I adore  her huge massive massive blooms I hope this has   been somewhat helpful I hope it hasn't been too  scattered sometimes when I do these tours and   I'm hopping around the garden sometimes I hope  it makes sense and I hope it translates well   but I just wanted to share with you you know our  successes and our messes and things we've learned   and I think you often learn a lot of times from  mistakes whether you plant something in the wrong   spot or you try to control weeds and it didn't  turn out so good so like I said we try to keep   things as open and honest with you so that way  that way you can learn right I mean that's what   this beautiful gardening Community is about  is about sharing those messes and successes   and sharing and swapping ideas and different  experiences with one another so that we can learn   from one another we can learn from each other we  can be inspired by each other and yeah just lots   of fun so I hope this has been helpful check out  both the video that we did way early on that video   that we um when we made that video talking about  the different types of high hydrangeas growing   conditions how you prune them how to take care  of them we were actually standing in front of   this Limelight when it was in full bloom so this  is the same hydrangea you know a couple of years   later but limelight hydrangea also check out  the article from The Prudent winter color choice   I think it's really really helpful especially  if you're a southern Gardener and you struggle   with growing you know hydrangeas even if you're in  zone nine and you struggle this is a really really   informative article and I think you will learn  something from it I know that I have so as always   thank you so much for gardening with Creekside  we hope you have found this fun informative and   inspirational y'all have a fantastic day  we'll see in the next video bye friends

Channel: Gardening with Creekside

Views: 77,509

Keywords: gardening with creekside, creekside nursery, pollinator garden, berm for privacy, garden tour, plant nursery business, Plant Nursery, Nursery Tour, horticulture, charlotte nc, hardscape, proven winners plants, garden answer, plant shopping, plant haul, southern living plant collection, zone 7b gardening, little lime hydrangea, proven winners, zone 7b, gardening, houseplant shopping, houseplant haul, plant shopping vlog, shrubs, sempervivum, chick charms, late spring garden

Id: wL12tmRNe40

Length: 37min 19sec (2239 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 24 2023