Best Hydrangeas for Texas

[PookieMichelle]

Hello all!

I currently have 2 Forever Hydrangea Peppermints in a large whiskey barrel (so I can save it from the sun on those really brutal days)
I just recently got a Little Lime started - also a container baby...it is coming along well, leafing out and getting stronger!

I finally talked my husband into actually planting some hydrangeas in the front yard! So yay! It is in a flower bed that we will be working fresh amendments into, so the soil should comply with whatever we plant, LOL. The area is shaded virtually all day from direct sun, so I figure hydrangeas might work perfectly!

There are so many wise gardeners on these forums, I thought I would put out the question of which variety of hydrangea might fare well here in the Lone Star State?
I initially thought of Limelight, but he put the ix-nay on it - doesn't like the idea of that much green out front.

I appreciate any input and welcome all suggestions!!!

[luis_pr]

H. macrophylla (aka mopheads or lacecaps) and H. quercifolia (aka, oakleaf hydrangeas) should work well. The arborescens like Annabelle should do fine but they all will require soil that is well draining, acidic and evenly moist, especially in the summer months. I pack on the mulch past the drip line due to the drying winds in the summer. And I will always end up having to manually water with a hose when the drip is not enough.

Paniculatas are more sun tolerant than the others and can be in full sun in the northeast. They are not widely sold locally though; something tells not to try giving the leaves sunscald even if they are paniculatas. It is way too hot for the leaves here. My first attempt failed. QF (Quick Fire) dried out last year. Now I learned that it was my fault; I thought I had drip irrigation nearby and I was wrong!!! Note: I placed it where it was going to get afternoon shade. Redenta's has had LL; Northheaven Gardens sometimes has paniculatas but I have not seen them there every year. Marshall Grain in Grapevine opened there recently and has had panics for the last 2-3 years.

[PookieMichelle]

[img][IMG]https://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e246/Michelle62072/EndlessSummerTheOriginal.jpg[/img][/img]

My big splurge this year! I backfilled with aluminum sulfate, keeping my fingers crossed for some pretty blue mopheads!

[img][IMG]https://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e246/Michelle62072/ForeverAndEverPeppermint.jpg[/img][/img]

Started these lil beauties last year - packed one side of the whiskey barrel with aluminum sulfate...not sure it will work!

I am so super excited that I have all these teeny tiny little buds just waiting to burst open!
And Luis, thank you for telling me about Redenta's - I went to the Arlington location and it was just so so awesome! I was in Heaven and wanted to buy so many different things - I had never seen a viburnum in real life! And the swiss chard they had was HUGE! It looked like Paul Bunyan's swiss chard! Thank you a million times over! It's so nice that there is a place locally for me to order the cool stuff (I had resigned myself to the big box stores )

My Little Lime is looking good, a ton of new leaves - I haven't spotted any buds just yet, but it looks super healthy! I can't wait til it starts budding so I can take another picture.

[PookieMichelle]

What a rookie error!

[luis_pr]

Your plants look fine! Just like mine, full of broccoli! Hee hee hee! I even have a confused lacecap that started already blooming. Got it from Kroger's in either Nov or Dec. of last year. Looks similar to a Fuji Waterfall. Oakleafs should be doing the broccoli thing as well. Just went to Redentas last weekend to pick up some Mexican Feather (?) Grass, a hosta and winter honeysuckle. Also wanted to buy a rose that I had seen a few weeks before but it was already gone. You can fertilize the hydrangeas now and continue adding coffee grounds, liquid seaweed or liquid fish the rest of the year. Do not forget to amend (acidify) the soil if you need to. I always do it in Feb when I prune other plants and again -in some years- by July-August.

[luis_pr]

Vibirnums generally do well in this area too. The Dallas Arboretum has a few Snowball Vibirnums that resemble early flowering hydrangeas.

I have two vibirnums (other varieties) that took off in an area where they get little attention and are now biguns, 8 feet or so. Then again, I planted another one that never got anywhere and was always stunted in growth. Not sure what is up with it but I transplanted to get less sun because one problem was drying out of leaves during the summer even though the soil appeared to be moist. I checked the roots when transplanting to make sure it was not root bound and they looked ok so go figure. Other stuff growing nearby may have been an issue too so we will see if it likes the new spot better.

[PookieMichelle]

Luis! HELP!

Should I be worried about my hydrangeas? We are in far northeast Tarrant County - the very northern boundary of Fort Worth.

I also have phlox, alcea, clematis, and impatiens...I don't remember there being this drastic a cold snap EVER!!!

I am in a panic - any advice is appreciated!

[rainbowgardener]

Relax, they are quite cold hardy. I have an oakleaf hydrangea in my backyard, here in zone 6, with freezes and snows all winter.

[luis_pr]

I am not doing anything special since the weather will -supposedly- only dip to 39 and only for an hour or two (from 5am until 7am). Then it goes back up.

Impatients however, need to go inside if you want to make sure. Usually you want to bring them inside when the temps will be below 50. Phlox and clematis are hardy here so they may not care much either. Alcea? I do not know that one. Got any pictures or stories of it?

[luis_pr]

So how did it go, PookieMichelle? I did not find any obvious problems although cold weather issues may not become obvious rightaway. Will have to check the shrubbery thru the weekend to make sure all is well.

[PookieMichelle]

I lost a few things in the cold snap, but it was mostly just little plantlings I had started pretty recently...all hydrangeas look pretty good...except for the one I'm pretty sure I killed with my overzealousness for some blue flowers

I have the 2 forever and ever peppermints in a large whiskey barrel and I thought it would be fun to put the aluminum sulfate in on one side just to see what happened. I would have been happy with pinks, but it seemed like a fun experiment.

I noticed last week that the leaves were blackened and curling up, everything felt pretty dry and crunchy, but only on the side I treated. After some research, I came to the conclusion that I burned the poor thing up. I worked in some untreated medium and have thoroughly watered, to try and flush as much aluminum out as possible. It looks so sad, I can't bring myself to take a picture just yet. It's like a horrible before/after photo, as the untreated hydrangea has actually begun to bloom and look gorgeous. I feel like a cautionary tale, LOL

The sad plant looks just like a hydrangea right before winter, with no leaves, and almost no color. There is one fairly large branch that still has a few leaves and a tiny bit of broccoli on it. No blackening or wilting, so I have hope that it is still alive and that it might recover for the future...Pretty sure I won't get any blooms out of it this year...

[luis_pr]

The varieties that you can find locally are macrophyllas (mopheads and lacecaps), arbosrescens and oakleafs. There is a sprinkle of paniculatas but not much for sale. I see Little Lime for sale more in recent years. Quick Fire is another one I have seen too. None of them can take our summer sun, even though paniculatas are the most sun tolerant. Oakleafs are supposed to be drought tolerant once they are established in your garden (that is, wait 2-3 years); but they cannot tolerate extended periods of water in clay soils. I am trying a dwarf variety after an Oakleaf Alice got root rot during a rainy spell we had 5 years ago or so from March thru June. You may want to add some evergreens in between some of the hydrangeas so things will not look all brown during the winter months.