A Visual Guide to the Most Popular Types of Hydrangeas (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular hydrangea? ›

'Limelight' hydrangea is one of the most popular choices with lime-green flowers that turn pink as they mature and can grow up to 6 feet tall.

Oakleaf varieties are the easiest type of hydrangeas for beginners to grow. Why are oakleaf hydrangeas so easy? They aren't picky! Oakleaf hydrangeas can tolerate colder weather, handle more sun, withstand drought, are more disease/pest resistant and grow in sandy soil better than other hydrangeas.

We can have a look at the growth habit and foliage of the plant to distinguish the two. If your plant has more rounded, slightly heart shaped leaves with a matte surface, you likely have a smooth hydrangea. If your plant has large, elliptical, waxy and serrated leaves, you most likely have a Big Leaf hydrangea.

Smooth Hydrangea

“If you are familiar with the classic white Annabelle hydrangea, you'll love Incrediball hydrangea,” she says. “It has massive white blooms held up on sturdy stems, so they don't flop over.” Or try Invincibelle Wee White smooth hydrangea, which blooms for months.

Panicle Hydrangeas

These beautifully easy-to-care-for shrubs are very long bloomers. Their giant football shaped flowers will bloom in early summer and last well into the fall. Panicle hydrangea flowers will stay on the stems of the shrubs well into the winter, unless you trim them off.

Endless Summer hydrangeas actually enjoy partial shade to full sun and are able to bloom on both old and new growth from spring through summer or early summer to fall, depending on the climate you live in.

The first and only of its kind, Invincibelle Wee White® smooth hydrangea is the only dwarf 'Annabelle' hydrangea around. It's the smallest smooth hydrangea available! Growing to be 1-2.5′ tall and wide, this is one small hydrangea. Thanks to its small size, we've found it to be an incredibly versatile choice.

However, most varieties of hydrangeas take two to four years to mature to full size.

This is because hydrangeas love the warm morning sun, but they dislike the heat of the afternoon. The best place to plant hydrangeas is in a sheltered location with sunny mornings and shady afternoons. You often find this on the north or south side of your home.

A summer stunner with strong, upright stems and large cone-shaped flowers. The flower color starts out white in July then progresses to dark pink.

Should hydrangeas be cut back and when? ›

Prune back stems to just above a fat bud — called a heading cut — in fall, late winter, or spring. These plants have conical-shaped flower heads that provide nice winter interest in your landscape, so wait to prune these until late winter or spring.

Generally speaking, acidic soil, with a pH lower than 6.0, yields blue or lavender-blue hydrangea blooms. Alkaline soil, with a pH above 7.0, promotes pinks and reds. With a pH between 6 and 7, the blooms turn purple or bluish-pink. To lower your pH, add garden sulfur or aluminum sulfate to your soil.

Yet one type of hydrangea can soak up the sun all day: the panicle hydrangea. While they can stand the sun, these do just fine in partial shade, too. Plus, panicle hydrangeas are the hardiest hydrangeas.

Panicle hydrangeas are low-maintenance and fast-growing large deciduous shrubs that are hardy from Zones 3 to 8. They feature elongated, cone-shaped blooms in white or ivory that last from mid-Summer into Fall and often change colors with age, usually finishing with shades of pink.

Hydrangeas mainly flower in shades of blue, pink and white. But the colouring may depend on the type of soil you have – some hydrangeas produce blue flowers on acid soils and pink on alkaline soils. And certain cultivars produce better colour than others.

Thanks to the big impact of their blooms, smooth hydrangeas are great for planting along home facades and to cover front fencing. The 'Annabelle' variety is extremely popular, but the Proven Winners variety Incrediball® is a variation of 'Annabelle' with even larger blooms that bloom up to a month earlier.

So, when is the best time to plant hydrangeas? Aim for late spring, well after any danger of frost has passed, or early fall, when night temperatures usher in cooler air. If you garden in a region where the ground freezes, get plants into the ground at least six weeks prior to fall's first killing frost.

Based on the research above, Hydrangea quercifolia and Hydrangea angustipetala cultivars seem like the best choices.