Deciduous Flowering Shrubs - Part 5

It flowers from mid-summer to early autumn on a shrub about two and a half feet high and wide (2mx2m).

The gray under surface of the leaves distinguishes it from other forms. It does best in partial shade.

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' was found in Anna, Illinois by J. C. McDaniel and named after the town. The RHS has awarded it the AGM (Award of Garden Merit) and it's well deserved. This is a tough, reliable shrub, producing heads of flowers that can exceed a foot in diameter in a good year.

Since I whack mine back each spring, the clump rarely exceeds four feet (1.21 m) in height. Before I started doing this, it got a bit taller, but the flower heads were so large that the stems ended up falling over. If you don't want to cut back hard, you'll need to tie it up.

All the flowers start out a pale green (see photo above), gradually turn snow white and then fade back to green and finally to tan with some dark brown where they have been really shaded or touched ground. The flower heads expand as they age, reaching full size at the pure white stage. My clump grows on a north facing bank behind a hemlock (Tsuga) hedge, overshadowed by large trees on the south side. It gets a couple of hours of direct sun at mid day and some rays in morning and afternoon.

In years when I remember to give it a manure or compost top dressing in early spring, the flower heads are larger than in years when I forget to do this. These plants grow and bloom with neglect, but repay a gardener's kindness handsomely.

The soft leaves, formed in pairs opposite each other on the stem, can be eight inches long by six inches wide (20.31 x 15.23 cm) if the plants are well fed and watered.

One to three inch long petioles (the slender stem that connects the leaves to the main cane) brace the leaves at horizontal attention with only a slight, graceful droop at the tip.

The leaves turn yellow in fall, but the color isn't exactly showy. Winter form is not marvelous - I wouldn't plant these shrubs as a focal point.

Hydrangea arborescens 'Grandiflora'

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