Cold Climate Gardening » hydrangea

Hydrangeas that Thrive in a Cold Climate

Kathy Purdy — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 04:41:49 +0000

Click on the photo for a list of plants

Hydrangea arborescens, Hydrangea anomala, and Hydrangea paniculata are three terrific hydrangeas for cold climates. Remember those names. Write them down on the inside of your arm with a pen if you have to before you visit your local nursery, so that you will not be seduced by the flashy macrophyllas calling to you from every endcap. You know who I’m talking about.

I’ve been growing two varieties of H. arborescens: ‘Abetwo’, which has the trade name Incrediball®, and ‘NCHA1′, which has the trade name Invincibelle® Spirit. I think both of them are far better choices for a cold climate garden than any macrophylla.

Invincibelle Spirit

When I first saw photos of Invincibelle Spirit, I wasn’t sure I liked the color, but I’ve found it much more pleasing “in real life.”

Invincibelle Spirit fits in well with other plants in a border

This shrub started blooming in early July and hasn’t stopped. The flowers open up a deep pink and slowly fade, giving a pleasing multi-hued effect. Despite the heat and dry weather they experienced, the first flowers still look good, not browned or shriveled. And I haven’t babied it at all. It got no protection for winter and has not been fertilized, though it is in a moist location and gets about a half day of sun. Yes, I am very happy with this shrub, especially with Actaea simplex ‘Black Negligee’ providing the backdrop.

Invincibelle Spirit Hydrangea and Black Negligee actaea

Incrediball

Perhaps you’ve seen this image of the world’s largest hydrangea blooms?

Incrediball hydrangea. Photo courtesy Proven Winners

Pretty amazing, huh? (Just to clarify, I don’t think Proven Winners has actually claimed Incrediball’s blooms are the world’s largest. That’s my own hyperbole.) Some people find them grotesque. But not to worry, the blooms on my Incrediball aren’t nearly that big:

Incrediball's flowers are in scale with the rest of the shrub

The blossoms are bigger than on Incredibelle Spirit, but they are by no means out of scale with the rest of the plant. Incrediball is a bit further back in the bed, so it gets a little less sun, but otherwise it has gotten the same treatment as Invincibelle Spirit. The soil was amended with organic matter, but neither shrub has been fertilized and neither got any winter protection.

The one weird thing about Incrediball is all the flowers are blooming beneath the leaves.

The blossoms are hiding underneath the leaves.

I still can’t see the blossoms from the front of the bed, though we do enjoy them from the windows. This may be a function of plant immaturity, or it may be some other environmental factor. I am happy enough with this shrub that I’d be willing to move it to a sunnier location if that would help it get those flowers up higher. But I think I will give it another year where it is.

We’ve spent a lot of time fussing and fretting over that other hydrangea, but I thought it was time to highlight a few hydrangeas that earn their keep without being catered to. How about you?

Proven Winners sent me Invincibelle Spirit and Incrediball to trial in my garden.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 2010

Kathy Purdy — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:48:51 +0000

Five days late. I considered skipping it this month. But participating in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day has allowed me to track changes in the garden, so I decided to post most tardily. Several plants that were blooming last year are done blooming already, such as cephalaria and pink foxglove. The tunic flower and perennial flax died out on me. And I have a couple of new beauties.

Old faithful. This one pansy plant comes back every year and blooms all season.

The black pansy was just one of many pansies in a mix from Renee’s Garden, but it alone comes back (or self-sows) every year.

One section of the birthday garden. Lumber to rebuild the porch in the background

New Beauties

Sophy's Rose.

Gertrude Jekyll

The roses are trial plants from David Austin Roses. I will be testing their mettle this winter.

Incrediball hydrangea

Invincible Spirit hydrangea with Black Negligee actaea

These two hydrangeas are trial plants from Proven Winners. They’ve already made it through one winter and are growing robustly.

Unexpected Beauty

Bolted lettuce

Sometimes you just have to take a fresh look at a plant. We all know what lettuce is “supposed” to look like. We all know you are supposed to eat it, so we usually pull it out before it’s gone this far. But really, I think it’s pretty in a wild kind of way. Click on the photo for a larger image. What do you think? Does this ~~vegetable~~ foliage plant have a place in your garden?

What’s in Bloom

Pansies
Petunias
Malva sylvestris ex ‘Bibor Felho’
Hyperion daylily
Bright Eyes phlox
Cerise Queen yarrow
Veronica from Bedlam Gardens
Six Hills Giant catmint
Cynanchum ascyrifolium
white rose campion
pink rose campion
American Revolution daylily
two different yellow daylilies
coral bells
William Shakespeare 2000 rose
Shirley poppies
breadseed poppies
peony poppies
Tangerine Gem Spanish poppy
Beppie daylily
Red Rum daylily
other daylilies with forgotten names
some hostas
Apricot Delight yarrow
meadow rue
meadowsweet
yellow foxglove
Johnny-jump-ups
creeping bellflower
Sneezeweed yarrow
flowering tobacco
Lady’s mantle
Concord Grape spiderwort
Cape Diamond rose

Inspired by the words of Elizabeth Lawrence, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year,” Carol of May Dreams Gardens started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, garden bloggers from all over the world publish what is currently blooming in their gardens, and leave a link in Mr. Linky and the comments of May Dreams Gardens.

Buffalo Is Not A Cold Climate

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:25:57 +0000

What do you think of when you think of Buffalo? All. That. Snow. Well, all that snow comes from moist air over Lake Erie. All that snow insulates the soil and protects the plants. And Lake Erie, big enough to be an inland ocean, moderates the climate year round, so that it is cooler in summer than where I live, and warmer in winter. As proof I submit:

My blue hydrangea is not even in bud yet, and look at this one in Buffalo.

This is not reliably hardy in Zone 5, yet I saw it growing in several Buffalo gardens

According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, Acanthus hungaricus is not reliably hardy in Zone 5, yet I saw it growing in many Buffalo gardens. And look at the bee balm behind the spiky plant:

The bee balm is tall enough to function as a privacy screen

Here’s an unobstructed view of that same clump:

The biggest, most bounteous bee balm I've ever seen.

My bee balm never gets that big! I almost wondered if the gardener had a magic elixir, sort of like hair tonic, to get it grow like that, but then I saw it just as tall and luxuriant in other gardens, and concluded that bee balm just does well here.

From these and many other pieces of evidence, I conclude that Buffalo has a milder winter (in terms of temperature) and a longer growing season than what you would find in a cold climate. I’ve been visiting Buffalo with a bunch of other garden bloggers, and I can testify it’s a great place to grow a wide variety of garden plants. So what if it snows? They know how to handle it and it’s good for the plants. Try it, you’ll like it.

I Hate These Kind of Plants

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:56:53 +0000

I hate the plants that can survive a cold winter but can’t take a hard spring frost. It is so aggravating! The problem is they emerge too early from dormancy for their own good. I’m talking about:

April 29, 2006. Endless Summer hydrangea literally nipped in the bud.

‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea. It will get through a USDA Zone 4 winter but break into leaf long before the last spring frost. Which would be fine if those leaves could take a frost. But they can’t. I keep this shrub around for sentimental reasons. It reminds me of my grandma’s blue hydrangea–which was dead hardy for her on Long Island. I have learned if I bury it in leaves in the fall and leave them on until June, it will fine.

One night at 27F does it in.

Arisaema amurense. There are very few arisaemas hardy to USDA Zone 4. This arisaema, native to the Amur River valley, is supposed to be one of them, though other sites say Zone 5. Unfortunately it emerges from its winter dormancy in May, when we still have frost. Frost makes it lay down and die a premature death. It’s not pretty and it makes me want to cry. And that’s not pretty, either.
Native-born but can't deal with spring frost

Arisaema triphyllum. I know it’s a native, you know it’s a native, but just try telling that to Jack. Our native Jack-in-the-pulpit can’t take the frost any better than his Asian cousin. How the heck did it survive all these years? Perhaps provenance makes a difference. This guy came from a relative living in the Hudson Valley near Albany. I really didn’t think our climates were that different, but maybe little things mean a lot.

Can’t Live With ‘Em or Without ‘Em

By now you have probably guessed that I don’t really hate these plants or I would have let them go to their eternal composted rest before now. Really I love them; I just hate their little sissy ways and how they make me work to keep them alive. I really thought it was going to get colder than 27F (-3C) last night or I would have made the effort to cover them. It might–might–have gotten them through. Another two degrees colder and nothing would have saved them, so I didn’t bother.

Why bother, indeed? I’m either hard-headed or soft-hearted. I keep telling myself each year that this year’s weather was an anomaly, that if I just help these plants pull through and build up strength, eventually they’ll be able to deal with a weird spring or two without my help. Yeah, right.

How about you? Are there plants in your garden that make you pull your hair out, but you just can’t part with?

Endless Summer Hydrangea Has One Bloom

Kathy Purdy — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:29:52 +0000

Every day I take a walk around my garden, and check my ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea for buds.

I don't see any flowers, do you?

And every day I sigh, and walk away disappointed. But one day I was on my knees, weeding a bed about six feet away, and happened to glance over at my bloomless shrub.

Wait! Do I see a flash of blue?

There's a flower in there!

Hidden in the interior of the shrub, scarcely visible unless you move branches aside, one blossom was in full, true-blue bloom. Who’d a thunk it? The shrub itself is larger than last year, and despite the predations of insects, seems to be vigorous and thriving. I suspect it would be flowering more if the summer were warmer. And I did find another still very immature flower bud, but only one.

Peek-a-boo!

Endless Summer Hydrangea: Where’s the Blooms?

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:01:21 +0000

Almost exactly a year ago, my ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea was blooming. This year, as you can see above, it doesn’t even have buds.

What Went Wrong?

Okay, I forgot to feed it. Does it completely fail to make buds without fertilizer? I think not. It may not flower as profusely, and the blooms may not be as big, but no flowers at all?

The weather was not to its liking. There was that late May freeze. Yes, I covered it, but still. Other covered plants showed visible damage. Perhaps the hydrangea suffered damage that I couldn’t see, that killed the flower buds. Certainly the smaller hydrangea nearby got hit. It never recovered, either.

And the weather is still not to its liking. I think Hydrangea macrophylla likes more heat to its summer. We’ve scarcely hit 80F the whole summer. Not that I, personally, am complaining.

What’s Eating Them?

Are these critters causing those spots?

By now you may have noticed that the leaves are covered with spots. I’m not sure if this yet-to-be-identified bug above is causing them, or if it’s a disease, such as Cercospora leaf spot.

Some of the damage is from snails, I bet.

If I’ve read it once, I’ve read it a hundred times: when a plant succumbs to insects or disease, it’s usually because it was already stressed by something else. The big question is: what was (or is) that something? Lack of fertilizer and bad weather, or something else?

You can click on any of the captioned images for a closer look. Maybe you can tell me what's afflicting this plant.

Uncovered my ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:38:25 +0000

I finally uncovered my ‘Endless Summer’ and ‘Forever&Ever’ hydrangeas. I had discovered that dumping a bunch of dry leaves over them in the fall was sufficient to protect them from the erratic spring freezes that we have. The old branches help hold the mulch in place, and I cut them down in the spring when I remove the mulch. You can see a few of the old branches in the photo above.

We have had frost in the first week of June in other years, and even though none was predicted for this week, well, we’ve had frost before when none was predicted. I’d rather uncover them a week later rather than have all their new growth blackened after weeks of waiting. That’s a certain way to lose a season’s bloom.

You can see the small, pale leaves that have been hiding under the mulch until now.

Experience tells me that the tiny leaves that have been protected by mulch will soon green up and catch up in size with the leaves that grew beyond the mulch.

This ‘Endless Summer’ now has some size to it. I had two very small trial shrubs, and when we had our hard freeze on May 19th, one got killed and one got severely damaged, despite having leaves mounded over them and plant containers covering them. If you tend to get lots of “surprises” during spring, you almost can’t protect them too much.

I have some organic fertilizer for acid-loving shrubs that I will scratch into the soil as soon as the rain stops.

How are your hydrangeas faring?

What Happens to Plants After an Untimely Freeze Part 2

Kathy Purdy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:26:16 +0000

In Part 1 I mentioned the two hard frosts and a freeze we had recently, all of them rather later in the season than is typical. I illustrated how different species in the same genus reacted to the freeze differently, and also gave examples of plants that were damaged even though they were protected.

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Sometimes frost damage doesn’t show up right away.

This Forever&Ever hydrangea was covered with leaves and the sprouts poking through the leaves were covered with a container. The morning after the big freeze, the damage is barely discernible as a slight shine and darker color.

The Forever&Ever hydrangeas are a special form of Hydrangea macrophylla. The leaves put out new growth early, but that growth is frost sensitive. In our cold climate, the buds that produce flowers must be protected from freezing. I mostly do this with a thick covering of leaves, but this shrub was putting out growth beyond the leaves piled around it. I covered this growth with a container, which was sufficient for the first two heavy frosts, but not the big freeze.

Several days later, the damage is much more apparent

On the other hand…

This columbine was completely unprotected for the hard freeze and looks pretty pitiful

Just hours later, it looks like it never was frozen. No damage whatsoever.

Too Big to Protect

Trees and shrubs often take the worst hits from unexpectedly cold weather because they can’t be covered. We are always dreading frost when the apple trees are blooming, and this Michigan State University Extension site explains how to assess frost damage to apple buds, flowers, fruit and trees. The photo below illustrates how woody plants can vary in their resistance to cold damage.

The maple leaves were undamaged, but the choke cherry leaves were all destroyed.

We gathered several bouquets of lilacs the night before, certain they would all be reduced to brown mush.

The freeze didn't ruin the lilacs, to our surprise.

The florets that were past their prime turned brown prematurely, but most flower trusses went on to bloom normally and perfume the air wonderfully.

Some Plants Can Take It

Border phlox and Siberian iris foliage took the hard freeze in stride.

What You Should Learn From This

When the forecast reads,

Temperatures Monday morning will fall into the upper 20s to lower 30s. Sheltered rural valleys could be even colder…Those with agricultural or gardening interests in the warned area are advised to protect tender vegetation.

don’t throw your hands up in despair. Even if you can’t completely protect your plants, you can help many of them either to recover for this season, or to build up strength for next season. You won’t know how much you can save until after it’s all over, so don’t assume it’s hopeless ahead of time.

Endless Summer Hydrangea in two different climates

Kathy Purdy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:41:11 +0000

Recently, Chris of Backyard Gardening Blog published a timeline in pictures, demonstrating the growth of his ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas. I found it very interesting to compare his photos with the few I took. You might want to have his post open in a separate tab of your browser so you can quickly flip back and forth to compare shrubs.

May 13, 2007. 'Endless Summer' is just getting started.

I didn’t take an early May photo this year, so we will have to assume that the hydrangea emerged from dormancy about the same time this year as it did in the photo above. As you can see, it is not even as far along as Chris’s May 1st photo, and Chris considered his hydrangeas behind in their growth at this point. Those are daylilies in the foreground.

June 4, 2007, a bit more than 3 weeks from the previous photo.

I estimate the height at six inches in this June photo. They look to be at the same stage as the May 12th photo in Chris’s post.

June 25, 2008. Click to enlarge photo if necessary.

Here you can see the first flower buds. The hydrangea is at a similar stage to Chris’s May 26th photo–a good month later than his.

July 6, 2008

The buds are further along, but still no blooms. Perhaps equivalent to the shrubs on the right in Chris’s June 22nd shot.

July 16, 2008

Okay, so now my very first blooms are starting to look like the shrubs on the left in Chris’s June 22nd shot. The blooms are starting to color up but haven’t gotten their peak color yet. At this point my ‘Endless Summer’ is at least 3.5 weeks behind his earliest blooming one.

July 27, 2008: fully colored up.

I guess this photo above is pretty close to Chris’s July 6th photo, continuing the three week gap between his ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas and mine.

September 8, 2008.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of the hydrangea in August. Now in early September the old blossoms are turning pink as they age. I can’t remember if they got as dark as Chris’s before our first frost on September 19th. But there was no second flush of bloom. You can see that the stems have elongated, partially obscuring the flowers. You have to part the branches to see the blooms well. But no new buds are visible.

Microclimates are important

Chris is in Zone 5. Theoretically I am, too, though not too long ago I would have said I was in Zone 4. I still have a Zone 4 growing season, with later spring frosts and earlier fall frosts. And Chris has one other advantage. Did you notice it? That stone wall behind his hydrangeas is providing a warmer microclimate by storing heat and radiating it back when the temperatures drop.

I have to say I was much happier with my ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea this year than I was last year. I’m sure it improved its performance that I took care to mulch it with leaves last fall, and I didn’t pull them away from the plant until I was sure all danger of frost had passed. But I can also see that Chris gets more bloom from his ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas with the same amount of work.

I hope you found this comparison as informative as I did. A few extra weeks at each end of the growing season and a more favorable microclimate can make a significant difference in the performance of a plant. It’s a good thing to keep in mind when a fellow gardener rants–or raves–about a plant.

Endless Summer hydrangea blooming well this year

Kathy Purdy — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:55:34 +0000

This year, my Endless Summer hydrangea is blooming abundantly.

After complaining about the lack of bloom on my ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea last year, I thought I’d better put in a good word for this shrub now that it is living up to expectations. It is growing vigorously and has a lot of flowers on it.

What I did differently

As I mentioned earlier this year, I covered the shrub with fallen leaves in late autumn. I made sure they filled the center of the plant and covered the surrounding soil to a depth of six inches. I did not remove these leaves until I was certain the last frost had passed. New growth had already begun under the leaves. (I also saw some vole tunnels, which I filled in. The shrub didn’t seem to have been harmed.)

When I removed the leaf mulch this spring, I also fertilized with Shrubs Alive! Fertilizer for Acid Loving Plants, to try to enhance the blue color of the flowers. I think they are bluer than when they last bloomed, though not as blue as in the marketing photos.

I also made sure the hydrangea had better weather this year. Seriously, the weather can have a major impact on the performance of these shrubs, and there’s not much you can do about it. This was a good year for hydrangeas, and I’m thankful for it.

Unfortunately, the ‘Forever & Ever Double Pink’ that I fell in love with seems to have expired. After its stunted growth last year and its very weak growth this spring, I’m wondering if it had a virus. On the other hand, the original Forever & Ever Hydrangea (a single pink) had never bloomed for me before, and it now has buds on it. You win some, you lose some.

They’re still high maintenance

The same caveats still apply. They need their mulch in winter, they need their water in summer. Not too hot, not too cold. Ju-u-ust right. Like Goldilocks.