Adding Hydrangeas to My Perennial Border
Creating a perennial garden takes time, patience, and thoughtful planning. The perennial bed located across from my chicken coops is several years old and thriving - looking more and more beautiful every summer.
This garden, my perennial hydrangea border, had long been home to a selection of colorful hydrangeas including mature mopheads transplanted from my former Lily Pond home in East Hampton. In more recent years, I expanded it and filled it with lots of other plantings, such as irises, ligularia, phlox, Aruncus, Euonymus, catnip, and more. Last week, I added a few more hydrangeas to fill in bare spots, including Hydrangea 'Seaside Serenade Bar Harbor,' and Hydrangea 'Seaside Serenade Martha's Vineyard.' The plants are from Monrovia, one of our sources for quality perennials and shrubs.
Enjoy these photos.
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- In 2020, I decided it was time to expand this hydrangea border, so we planted a selection of perennials I knew would do well in this location with sunny mornings and shady afternoons.
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- It’s developed nicely over the years, but my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and I keep an eye on it and supplement it with other plantings to fill in any voids.
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- It already has many mature hydrangeas. I love hydrangeas and have been collecting them for quite a long time. Hydrangeas are popular ornamental plants, grown for their large flower heads, which are excellent in cut arrangements and for drying.
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- Hydrangea is a genus of at least 70-species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Japan, and Korea.
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- Hydrangeas are long-lived, and extremely vigorous specimens that offer lavish and varied blooms. The most common garden hydrangea shrub is the bigleaf mophead variety, Hydrangea macrophylla. The name hydrangea originates from two Greek words – “hydro” meaning “water” and “angeion” meaning “vessel” or “container.” Together, the rough translation is “water vessel” which refers to their exceptional thirst for water.
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- The secret to the hydrangea’s color is in the soil, or more specifically, the soil’s pH level. Adjusting the measure of acidity or alkalinity in the soil can influence the color of the hydrangea blossoms. Acidic soils tend to deepen blue shades, while alkaline environments tend to brighten pinks.
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- Most hydrangeas are shrubs, but some are small trees. They can be either deciduous or evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.
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- In addition to the mopheads, there are also hydrangeas that bloom in lovely lacecaps in this garden.
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- The lacecap is very similar to the mophead, but instead of growing round clusters of showy blossoms, this hydrangea grows flowers that resemble flat caps with frilly edges.
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- All the hydrangeas are doing well. Hydrangeas love the warm morning sun, but they dislike the heat of the afternoon, so this is the most ideal location.
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- The hydrangea blooming season depends upon the type and cultivar as well as the planting zone. Most new growth hydrangeas put on buds in early summer to bloom in the following spring, summer and early fall seasons.
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- Recently, we received a selection of pretty hydrangea varieties from Monrovia to add to the border.
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- This is Hydrangea ‘Seaside Serenade Bar Habor.’ This relatively new compact form is great for smaller spaces, such as in between the larger hydrangea varieties already established in this garden. It features masses of big, white flower heads throughout summer. Its straight sturdy stems also hold up well in heavy rain.
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- This is Hydrangea ‘Seaside Serenade Martha’s Vineyard.’ This hydrangea shows off long-lasting, bold pink mophead blooms that are not influenced by soil pH. Flowers also develop a lovely green tinge as they age.
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- Hydrangea leaves are opposite, simple, stalked, pinnate and four to eight inches in long, toothed and sometimes lobed.
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- Here, Brian digs the hole for the plant. As always, at least twice the size of the plant’s root ball.
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- Once dug, Brian sprinkles fertilizer in the hole and in the surrounding soil. For these, we use an all-purpose formula with a good balance of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
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- As with any plant, Brian teases the root ball to stimulate growth. This root ball is not root bound, so the soil is softer and easy to scarify, or tease, with his hands.
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- The plant should sit at the same depth it was in the pot.
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- Next, Brian backfills, tamping the soil lightly at the end to ensure good contact.
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- These productive plants will flourish in this garden and make nice additions to the already established plants. Remember, perennials grow slowly the first year, faster the second year, and then usually reach full size in the third year. A well-designed perennial garden will provide many years of enjoyment.
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