Endless Summer Hydrangea
All About The Endless Summer Hydrangea
Endless Summer Hydrangea is one of the Hydrangea family that is dependable as far as being hardy in the wintertime and being able to bloom repeatedly without the weather affecting it as much as it can with other varieties. It was first found in St. Paul Minnesota, and after they tested it for several years, they discovered that it could die all the way to the ground and still grow back and produce flowers that same year.
Endless Summer Hydrangea usually grows to around three to five feet in height, and, as with most hydrangeas, the color depends on the soil it is grown in. To plant your hydrangea, pick a location in your garden with no mid-day sun. Don't plant too close to a tree though, or they may fight for what sun there is. Make sure the soil stays moist. Loosen the roots just a bit from the root ball before replanting. Add mulch around the plants for nutrients.
This variety of hydrangea can bloom on old wood as well as new (this refers to its ability to die off in the winter and still produce flowers the following summer). It has been found that late spring frosts do not disrupt its ability to produce blooms, either.
The shape of the bloom on an Endless Summer Hydrangea is called a “mophead”. When summer comes, the shrub sprouts eight to ten inch blooms, and it blooms on into the fall. Gardeners have also noticed that this particular hydrangea's flowers work exceptionally well in cut bouquets, for weddings and parties, or in dried arrangements.
This hydrangea is the right size for a foundation plant, or to use along a fence row, or to sit in the back of the garden and still be the standout shrub. It does enjoy the partial shade, to avoid the mid-day sun, and as well as it endures the cold winters up north, it also makes it through the heat and humidity of the southern states.
To give each shrub plenty of room to grow and thrive, it's best to space these plants three or four feet apart. Then when they all bloom, you'll have one beautiful line of color. If you make sure their soil is moist, you should see blooms the first year and every year after that.
Even though the Endless Summer Hydrangea has become very popular, it's still a bit of an enigma for some of the gardeners who live in colder parts of the country. Every species of plant has some oddities that it springs on new gardeners, and Endless Summer is no exception. As what is called a bigleaf hydrangea, it is more prone to sun-damage than smaller-leaved shrubs might be. They hate scorching heat and will wilt if they are exposed to the mid-day sun's rays for too long. They require steady moisture, but if they are standing in water, they may rot.
In short, the Endless Summer Hydrangea is a beautiful and hardy plant, but like all plants, is susceptible to Mother Nature's abject heat and cold. It's not a miracle, but it does grow much better in northern climates than most hydrangeas, and it has lovely flowers all summer long.