PlantFiles: Smooth Hydrangea, Wild Hydrangea, Sevenbark
Hydrangea arborescens

I have Annabelles in a hedge beside the drive. As usual, I was a little late for spring pruning, but I overcame my guilt at cutting off breaking leaves and cut each plant back to 9-12 inches. Actually even fertilized for once. Well...

Best thing I ever did - many blooms are forming and each shrub looks terrific.

In past years, blooms have been huge. There are more forming this year, so I expect smaller blooms. Which might be an okay thing since the monster blooms are so heavy.

Love the bright white and later chartreuse of Annabelle's blooms. Very cooling on a hot summer day.

Just would like to point out that this is just the plain Hydrangea arborescens that is common throughout our West Tennessee woodlands.

Most people think of cultivars like 'Annabelle' when they see references to Hydrangea arborescens, but 'Annabelle' is only one, and a cultivated form of this species, there are many other wild and cultivated forms as well that display a wide range of flower types.

Hydrangea arborescens consists of a large number of lesser known species as well that grow wild, and a few better known cultivars like 'Annabelle', 'Grandiflora' and others. In particular, along mountain trails in various places in the eastern U.S., from southern NY state to Florida and westward into Iowa and Missouri, you will see these wild varieties blooming in large colonies in filtered light along roadways, under the canopy of forest trees, along riverbanks, and in deep ravines. Most of the species in the wild have flowers with limited showy sepals and consist of mostly fertile flowers, but occasionally there might be a large snowball like flowerhead.

There are also several sub-species of H. arborescens, like 'radiata', which produce more ray-flowers than other wild arborescens; and 'discolor', which has more fertile flowers and may only have a couple showy sepals. Subspecies 'discolor' grows at lower elevations than subspecies 'radiata'. All grow in cool, moist habitats in shade. Subspecies 'discolor' has a grayish underside on the leaves.

In sub-species 'radiata', the upper surface of the leaves has hairs along the veins. The underside of the leaf is more of a silver-white, and covered with a thick fabric of white hairs that microscopically appear woven like a carpet. This sub-species is also not as comfortable in heat or during times of drought, it is also more difficult to root from cuttings.

Zone hardiness in all H. arborescens is 3 to 9. Information from "Hydrangeas for American Gardens," by Michael A. Dirr (2004).

A beautiful plant, which can be grown either in the ground, or in a large container. My H. aborescens grows in a halfed whisky barrel.
Easy to grow, and beginners can feel very satisfied with this one.