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Can anyone tell me what these hydrangeas are? And if it's possible to buy mature shrubs?

Mrs_MigginsMrs_Miggins Posts: 60
in Plants
I saw these on my walk back to my car last night. It was clearly a shady side of the road and these were just magnificent! I need something for a part shade border and these look perfect. I think the bottom one is a lace cap hydrangea? There seem to be so many different types I am just not sure. Would like a long flowering season and whites/pinks/reds. To grow approx 1.5-2m tall and be able to be trimmed so the flowers/branches are nearer the top. Not a standard but similar. And I would love to buy a mature shrub! I have a climbing hydrangea on the wall near that border and it's slow growing and yet to flower.  It's white. So a colour and flower type contrast would be good and I'm guessing a big shrub is best. Too much to ask? 

My other option is Fuschia Hawkeshead but I had a fuschia when I moved in and it died. Mysteriously. And a small hawkeshead which I almost nursed back to health but which also popped it's clogs when I planted it back out again. Plus it was incredibly slow growing. 

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  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    They are both forms of H. macropetala. If you are willing to pay the price you can buy them at that sort of size quite easily. We saw some yesterday in our favourite Nursery. They were only £70 each!
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    What sort of soil do you have?
    Hydrangeas do best in moist, but not waterlogged soil. If your soil is dry they will struggle. If you want pinks and reds it will need to be alkaline. In acid soil like mine you get blues and mauves. I managed to play the system and have a red one growing by the edge of the yard, which is covered in limestone chippings. Whites stay white.
    They are not suited to long term pot culture because of their food and water requirements. They grow fairly fast. Mopheads and lacecaps increase gradually year on year, while Paniculata types like Vanille fraise grow from the base and are cut down each year like autumn raspberries.
    They all have roughly the same flowering season, though position in regard to sun shade might extend it a fraction either end. Oak leaved hydrangeas do give you the benefit of good autumn foliage colour and nicely shaped leaves though.

  • Mrs_MigginsMrs_Miggins Posts: 60
    I have London clay.. and that spot gets plenty of shade with morning sun. I'm going to dig some leaf mould etc and a bag of ericaceous compost in before I plant it - there is a photinia that just mysteriously died and I've got to dig it out. It's next to my border with plants that need quite a bit of watering with the climbing hydrangea so watering is happening there anyway. I have a different type in a pot and it's not doing well! Now I know why! It hates too much sun and not being watered. I've been looking for a shrub for there and I think these are perfect. Big but not tree big, long flowering, happy with shade, and after seeing those last night just gorgeous. 

    Not keen on vanilla fraise et all. Or even mop heads though I do like annabelle. 
  • Mrs_MigginsMrs_Miggins Posts: 60
    @Palustris thank you! I would happily pay £70 for a decent size shrub! Not like I'm spending the money on holidays and that's a spot I really want something nice in! Don't suppose you are allowed to give me the name of the nursery are you? 😉
  • Mrs_MigginsMrs_Miggins Posts: 60
    Also was that a typo/ apple autocorrect? I can't find hydrangea macropetala anywhere but can find h microphylla. 
  • RaboonRaboon Posts: 15
    They're both Hydrangea macrophylla

    The top image is a mophead. They have the big, rounded, blousey flowers.

    The bottom is a lacecap. They have a flatter shape - small ball-like flowers surrounded by a ring of larger, open ones.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    @Mrs_Miggins   you've just contradicted what Buttercupdays has said about the soil they need. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    Sorry about the mistype.
    The Nursery is Derwen Nursery in Welshpool
  • Mrs_MigginsMrs_Miggins Posts: 60
    Lyn said:
    @Mrs_Miggins   you've just contradicted what Buttercupdays has said about the soil they need. 

    I'm not entirely sure about soils.. does that mean London clay isnt suitable because it gets waterlogged? My climbing hydrangea is doing fine but I've added a lot of non clay to it. 
  • GearóidGearóid Posts: 198
    Here's my lacecap grown in full sun in poor, sandy soil. I've grown hydrangeas for years and find them adaptable to many situations.


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