HelpfulGardener.com

My mom was gifted a Macrophylla Hydrangea labeled 'Galilee.' The tag doesn't say anything about how hardy this cultivator is and I'm having trouble finding anything online. Most of what I find is general information about Macrophyllas. One site said hardy to zone 8 while another said zone 6. I know that my 'Endless Summer' is a macrophylla and should be hardy to zone 6, but I just can't find much about 'Galilee.'

This appears to be a relatively new cultivar. I found the patent and it noted that it belongs to Bay City flowers in CA. They have a website with a contact area: https://www.baycityflower.com/retailers/contact.html

I would ask them about the plant as I only found it indicated as a "houseplant" which does not tell you much.

Good luck with your search

Galilee is the result of crossing Mathilda Gutges and Trube Blue, producing a plant with stronger stems, bigger flowers and deeper blue tone (in acidic soils). As such, I would expect the usual winter hardiness of Zone 6 (from Mom and Dad).

Re: "one said hardy to zone 8"... note that some sites generalize hardiness for a-l-l macrophyllas in the world by saying they are hardy to Zone 8 (others say Zone 7). Some of the less hardy varieties are the Teller Hybrids from Europe/Switzerland and these usually have a Zone 7 hardiness. So double check by calling since, I guess, you are probably a Zone 6 or 6b'er, no?

Thank you both! I'm zone 7a (in my signature) so if it's hardy to zone 6 that would be great. I passed the contact info on to my mom so she can give them a call. The current color is stunning and I'm not sure what the pH of the soil is at my parents house so it will be interesting to see if it changes.

If you had a soil pH meter that gives readings in numbers (as opposed to color changes in a liquid solution), I would test the potting mix to see what soil pH it has. Then if the color changes to a shade you do not like, you can amend the soil until you get the soil pH back to the original reading of the potting mix.