Some of Jenn Cole’s favourite hydrangeas.
Ancient hydrangea
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t’s the middle of August: the height of the summer heat is beginning to wane. The slightly cooler nights send a signal to the white cone-shaped panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) to turn deep rosy pink. My love of these stalwarts of the summer garden is limitless. When put into context of their ancient history they become even more alluring. In the 1920s, hydrangea fossils were found in rock samples taken from Jaw Mountain, Alaska. The samples dated back 40 to 65 million years. Other fossilized samples of the same age have been found in Oregon, California, China, Japan, and the Philippines. In 1736, hydrangeas growing wild in Pennsylvania were brought back to Europe for cultivation. Carolus Linnaeus, the botanist responsible for today’s plant naming system, labelled them Hydrangea arborescens. Translated from Greek, hydro means water, and angeion, means pitcher 22 • 2021
By Jennifer Cole because the blooms were thought to look like water pitchers. The species, arborescens, means tree-like. At the same time botanist Philibert Commerson found hydrangeas in Chinese gardens and took them to France. In 1830, the Asian plant took the name Hydrangea macrophylla. As time pressed forward so has the popularity of hydrangeas, mostly attributed to their large blooms that last all summer. They’re also relatively easy to care for. Panicle hydrangeas can be pruned back hard in the fall, or early spring and will come back as strong and as big as previous seasons. Blooming on new wood, they thrive. Other varieties are a bit trickier. Unlike H. paniculata, the majority of mophead hydrangea will only bloom on the previous year’s growth. No shrinking violets, some species of hydrangea (see sidebar) are hardy to Zone 3. They will withstand cold and, as noted, wet without flinching. Even if Issue 3
in containers, they just don’t mind. Bury the container for the winter and your shrub will survive. You can even manipulate the colour of some hydrangeas. If you plant a mophead in acidic soil usually found beside an azalea or rhododendron bush it will produce blue flowers. If planted in alkaline soil you get pink flowers. I have even managed to change the colour of ones in containers. I mixed rhododendron leaves and azalea cuttings, both known for their acidity, and dug them just below the surface of my potted plant. Sadly, hydrangeas have not always been thought of kindly. In Victorian times they represented vanity: too many blooms and no seeds to share. However, they can be divided through cuttings or by digging out a small part of new growth and capturing some of the root. I found this method a bit dicey as there is a risk of damage to the existing larger root. Once established they really localgardener.net
