July’s Practically Perfect Plant!
Annabelle Hydrangea – Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ USDA Zones 3-9. Part shade to part sun. 3-5’ tall and wide. Moderate water needs. Handles harsh Colorado sun and heat better than most hydrangeas!
Hydrangeas – The Stars of the Shade Garden
Who doesn’t love hydrangeas? The neat, rounded shrubs come in sizes small enough to fit into any garden, and their large, gorgeous clusters of flowers stand out across even the most spacious gardens! They’re almost required in a shade garden. No other shade plant gives that wow factor from large blossoms that last so many months.
Not All Hydrangeas are Equal
But in Colorado, hydrangeas that will bloom well are not synonymous with the varieties that are hardy here. That’s why it’s important to pick carefully. There are four types of hydrangeas: macrophylla (big leaf or mophead), paniculata (panicle), quercifolia (oakleaf) and arborescens (smooth or wild). For good bloom performance in Colorado, you can weed out the oakleafs and most macrophylla.
The Problem with Oakleafs
Oakleaf hydrangeas are beautiful plants, and if you are just looking for something with interesting leaf shape and brilliant fall color, they may still be the plant for you. But oakleaf hydrangeas bloom on “old wood” which means the flowers develop on stems that grew the previous year or before. That is a problem in Colorado, because although they may be hardy here, most hydrangeas, including the oakleafs, typically die down to the ground or close to it each winter. That means that the stems are all “new wood” (grown this season) and therefore oakleafs typically won’t develop any flowers here.
Marginal Macrophyllas
In Colorado, you will need a hydrangea that blooms on “new wood” if you want those eye catching balls of blossoms! Macrophylla hydrangeas, although extremely enticing, typically also bloom on old wood. There are some selections of macrophylla hydrangeas that do bloom on old and new wood, such as the Endless Summer collection. Endless Summer hydrangeas are just like the New England hydrangeas that gardeners (and pretty much everyone else) drool over, except that they are actually hardy here. If you supplement your soil to make it acidic, you’ll even get those blue flowers with the Original Endless Summer! Of course, I had to get some. And yes, they are hardy here. And yes, they do bloom. But even though I gave them the top spot in my yard, providing them with just the right growing conditions, I am lucky to be rewarded with more than one flower cluster per plant per year. Anymore than that, and I consider it an unusually lucky year! Macrophyllas may be the seductive, exciting hydrangea choice, but I will take the low maintenance, reliable options over them any day!
And the Winner is… the Annabelle Hydrangea!
Most paniculata and arborescens will bloom on new wood, and prove to be reliable bloomers here in Colorado. So why does the Annabelle hydrangea get to be July’s Practically Perfect Plant over the paniculatas and other arborescens? Really, it comes down to personal preference! I just favor the shape of the arborescens round flower clusters more than paniculatas. It may have to do with what I saw in gardens as a child. But I just love the look of them!
When Annabelles begin forming flower buds, I think the light green flower heads look really attractive, even before the individual flower blossoms open. And once they open – Wow! The bright white flower clusters are so eye catching! What a striking plant, even from afar! When Annabelle’s flowers get a bit older, the green hue returns to them. And they still look FABULOUS!! The flower’s and leaves’ contrasting shades of green look wonderful as you can see in the photo below. Annabelle blossoms look beautiful with different shades of white to green beginning in early June all the way until we get a freeze. That is a long flowering season!
Annabelle in July – bright white blossoms 
Annabelle in August – blossoms becoming shades of green once again
But why choose Annabelle over more colorful arborescens selections? There are now plenty of arborscens that bloom in shades of pink or purple, and they really do look fantastic when they bloom. Yet I still favor the plain, white Annabelles (or Incrediballs – a close relative.)
The Problem with the Pinks
The pink arborescens bloom reliably and prolifically just like Annabelles. But these cousins (such as the Invincibelles) also see green coloring migrate into their flower petals as they pass their prime. And when red (and thus pink as well) mixes with green, you get a not-so-lovely brown. So when the green pigment moves into the petals of the pink flowers, they look dead from a distance, even though they aren’t. They are just greenish pink! Once they get to this stage, I clip the flowers off. So my season of enjoying my Annabelles and Incrediballs ends up lasting two or three months longer than my season of enjoying my Invincibelles! That is probably the main reason I favor Annabelles above the more colorful varieties.
Finally.. About Annabelle Hydrangeas!
So now that we’ve covered why I prefer Annabelles over other hydrangeas, here’s a little more specifically about Annabelles and why they deserve to be July’s Practically Perfect Plant. The flower color may not be as exciting as some, but Annabelles are absolutely, reliably covered in blossoms each year! I have never had an Annabelle plant that didn’t bloom prolifically! You can just count on this plant to look good year after year! They can also handle our intense Colorado sun and don’t require nearly as much water as typical hydrangeas. They can even handle clay! They’re easy to grow and low maintenance, just needing to be trimmed back each spring.
Practically Perfect!
Annabelle hydrangeas are reliable, as low maintenance as I have ever found in a hydrangea, bloom heavily, and look fantastic from June until frost! Talk about a Practically Perfect Plant!
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