I have seen some magnificent Hydrangea's in my travels this year........must have liked the weather. This was one in my sisters garden,that she got years ago from my late fathers garden..................
As much as they are colorful and in there own way,very attractive for some reason they remind me of Old people....................Gods waiting room Hopefully no one will take offence to my opinion
Hi, It does look lovely, its boring to associate them with old people-who? Joan Collins, Harrison Ford, Al Pacino or Jane Fonda. I think they look like bubbles, floating and swaying in the breeze. Your sister must be very proud of it, I would be. As a new hydrangea convert I would be plastering pictures all over the place if it was mine.
Yes your right Ivory, it is Annabelle. I have one on the side of my house. It is a nice zone 4 plant which takes a beating from the wind coming that direction and the snow in the winter directs its path toward it. It has been in that position for about 6 years, and takes a beating and comes back ticking. Read recently to leave most of the stems on the plant through the winter, then the new stems will use the old stems as support. I did that last winter, now my Annabelle does stand up better than before. The Annabelle is supposedly the only Hydrangea with a fragrance. I have tried to find a smell, sometimes I think I can. I have eleven varieties of Hydrangea's in my gardens, from the mophead, to lace cap, to cone head, and a nice variegate, they bloom a various times during the summer months. One of my favorites is a little white lace cap, its leaves are a velvet green, and the underside of the leaf is a pure white, it is a joy to see it when the wind plays with the leaves and they flicker white.
I also love hydrangeas. I never noticed any fragrance about Annabelle, I must sniff closer. However, Hydrangea petiolaris is definitely fragrant, and H. villosa "Sargentiana" too, I should know, I planted mine where I can sniff when passing. SOrt of honey smell. Bees love it, and they collect blue pollen from the flowers, which is an unusual sight. Supposedly H. macrophylla "Ayesha" too, but all I can smell there is a sort of hot rubber scent, lol. Glad to find another Hydrangea lover.
See i used to really be quite urgh over them. I found a spider once in a vase of dried ones, think that got me. But now i love them! They remind me of giant coloured snowballs and I adore the one out the front of my garden! I've never seen a white one before! I want one now :D Thanks for that ID Ivory and for the pics Roders. So scrumptious. Especially with the varied coloured flowers springing out of it at all angles!
Ivory, will check on the two that are fragrant, might have ran across them years ago but they were not in my zone. In the past I have gotten most of my hydrangea from Heronswood Nursery in Washington State. Two years ago they were bought out by Burpee Seed company. And Burpee had an open house at their family mansion in the next county over from mine. I attended the open house. The gardens on the vast grounds are beautiful, the house also nice. They also had some special little training. I picked up a couple additional hydrangea there. They also put out some hydrangea out for tease that were good only in zone 7, I said to the manager why tease us when these can't handle this climate. (part of me thinks they wanted to sneak some in to folks who did not know better to get a sale) .
