Hydrangeas Shocking colors that make you want to dance

by Norman Winter, Horticulturist, Author and Speaker

Electric blue and neon purple in my

hydrangeas made 2019 an unforgettable year in the garden. These colors came courtesy of Let’s Dance Rave hydrangeas from Proven Winners. We’ve all seen those photos in catalogues and brochures making us wonder, "Would those flowers really look like that at my house?" and I can say, "Yes-they-did!"

I planted 25 hydrangeas, best I can count, representing three species and seven varieties. They all performed very well but I want to tout three in particular. Let’s Dance Rave literally stole the show in the garden which is hard to do with companion plants like Compact Electric Orange SunPatiens. You can immediately gather this garden was a little on the gaudy side and perhaps perfect for garden party dance. Let’s Dance Rave will get 36 inches tall and as wide and is a re-bloomer. I suspect it may get a little taller in the deep south. It is recommended for zones 5-9 and, like other Hydrangea macrophylla varieties, the color is really dependent on soil pH. Acidic soil gives intense blues and purple and alkaline soil will yield rich and vibrant pink shades.

At the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens, I had fallen for Big Daddy hydrangea, part of the Southern Living Plant Collection. The obvious question was whether it would perform similarly at my home in West Georgia. I can ecstatically now shout, "Who's Your Daddy?" Yes, Big Daddy looks happy here but the shocker to me was how much reblooming I got and in early November my blooms aged into a beautiful kaleidoscope of purples.

Big Daddy is just that.: big flowers (10" - 14" wide) and a big plant (5' - 6' tall and wide). Like Let’s Dance Rave, color is dependent on soil pH. Big Daddy is recommended for zones 6-9 and will thrive in part sun, morning sun and afternoon shade, or high filtered light. My last shout out goes to Chantilly Lace. This is a selection of Hydrangea paniculata that differs from a lot of other varieties of this species in that it has the large sterile flowers and small fertile flowers. In Savannah it was a pollinator magnet for swallowtails, hairstreaks and bees.

If you want glorious white hydrangea blooms in mid-to late-summer with the accompaniment of pollinators, then this is the one for you. It is recommended for zones 3-8. It is large, reaching 5' tall and wide. It blooms on current seasons' growth so cutting back will be part of your regimen. This hydrangea can go in full sun to part shade.

I hope you’ll stroll your landscape to see where the addition of a few hydrangeas might dazzle with color and butterflies. You may very well find yourself shouting, "Let’s Dance!" and, "Who's Your Daddy?"

Norman Winter is the former director of the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens at the Historic Bamboo Farm, now retired. These days he is an author and speaker on horticultural topics.

Norman Winter The Garden Guy