Hydrangea Paniculata - The Return Of A Legend. Varieties. Planting And Leaving. Photo

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Hydrangea Paniculata - The Return Of A Legend. Varieties. Planting And Leaving. Photo
Hydrangea Paniculata - The Return Of A Legend. Varieties. Planting And Leaving. Photo

Video: Hydrangea Paniculata - The Return Of A Legend. Varieties. Planting And Leaving. Photo

Video: Hydrangea Paniculata - The Return Of A Legend. Varieties. Planting And Leaving. Photo
Video: Post-pruning hydrangea update | Did they survive? | The Impatient Gardener 2024, March
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With the growing popularity of large-leaved hydrangea, many of the much more hardy species of these unique shade-tolerant shrubs have literally receded into the shade. One of the most “affected” crops is panicle hydrangea. This is modest in its requirements, but by no means in beauty, the plant today is perceived as almost hopelessly outdated, not fashionable and rather boring. But the panicle hydrangea still continues to amaze. And the spread of the trend of decorating gardens with simple maintenance is slowly returning it to its former popularity.

Hydrangea paniculata in the design of the garden
Hydrangea paniculata in the design of the garden

Content:

  • By no means a humble hydrangea
  • Expanding possibilities with varietal palette
  • Selection of partners for panicle hydrangea
  • Conditions required for panicle hydrangeas
  • Planting and primary care of panicle hydrangea
  • Caring for paniculate hydrangeas
  • Winter hardiness and durability are some of the best
  • Pest and disease control
  • Reproduction of panicle hydrangeas

By no means a humble hydrangea

Back in the middle of the last (20th) century, dacha fashion made the panicle hydrangea a culture not just popular, but almost mandatory for any suburban area. It was used in the design of standard summer cottages so widely that it was almost impossible to imagine typical garden houses without flowering bushes of panicle hydrangea. But in the new millennium, the popularity of this type of hydrangea began to decline and the plant experienced in recent years almost a period of oblivion. Only the emergence of a trend in the design of easy-to-care gardens and an increase in attention to the most hardy and undemanding plant species revived the former demand for panicle hydrangea. But this plant has something to boast about. The new career of panicle hydrangea that has begun is not at all associated with its modest role as a background shrub.

Hydrangea paniculata (Hydrangea paniculata) is one of the largest species of these shrubs, developing in the form of dense, powerful bushes or multi-stemmed trees up to 10 m high (most garden varieties are limited to a height of 1.5 m to 3 m). By nature, panicle hydrangea has a rather rounded crown. This shrub develops quickly, usually its annual growth is 25-30 cm. Leaves up to 12 cm long are oval or ovoid, with a weak edge on the upper surface and a strong edge along the veins on the lower side. The main decoration of the shrub is not light and bright foliage, but thick, wide pyramids of panicles, which in this hydrangea can reach 25 cm or more in length.

Inflorescences of paniculate hydrangeas, like other species of these shrubs, consist of two types of flowers: small fruiting ones are practically imperceptible, while large sterile flowers provide all the beauty of the inflorescences. In different varieties, the ratio of the two types of flowers and the density of their arrangement are very different, which provides a wide variety in the structure of panicles. In varieties with dominant sterile flowers, dense pyramids or brushes of panicle hydrangea in many ways resemble the usual favorite caps of large-leaved hydrangeas. But there are also varieties with more graceful lace panicles, in which a greater number of fruiting flowers provides an almost airy translucent structure of the inflorescence. Infertile flowers consist of 4 petals, their diameter is usually limited to 2.5 cm.

The flowering of panicle hydrangeas begins at the age of 4 - 5 years. After flowering, fruit pods up to 3 mm long are tied, beautifully cracking at the top. The seeds are very small. Seed ripening occurs in October, in the middle lane it is very rare to wait for it, and even then not for all varieties, even with very favorable weather conditions.

Most varieties of panicle hydrangea have a very pleasant aroma. Their smell is especially felt when planted in large groups. Without exception, all varieties of panicle hydrangea are honey plants.

Hydrangea paniculata (Hydrangea paniculata)
Hydrangea paniculata (Hydrangea paniculata)

Expanding possibilities with varietal palette

Paniculata hydrangea acquired the reputation of an old, unfashionable and boring plant, most likely, because at one time it was considered mandatory for decorating country gardens and was associated with a unified Soviet design. This type of hydrangea has been used in our country since antiquity, until recent years it was perceived as a traditional element in the design of the Russian garden. In the process of its wide distribution, panicle hydrangea practically lost its splendor and solemnity and became so commonplace that this led to a sharp decline in its popularity. Active selection and expansion of the variety palette have long changed the appearance of this modest, but much more resilient and versatile shrub than other types of hydrangeas.

Hydrangea paniculata, when used correctly, can play the role of not just a background, but also a star shrub in the garden. When presented correctly, she appears as a fashionable, modern and surprisingly lush beauty with a non-capricious character, which opens up completely new perspectives in the design of both hedges or shrub-tree groups, and flower beds with borders.

Hydrangea paniculata is an amazingly diverse species. Due to the fact that this plant has become very popular in the West, and all new amazing varieties are being bred in the best nurseries of Europe and the world, today it would be a big mistake to talk about some general standard for the appearance of panicle hydrangea. Among the varieties of this plant there are specimens that are different in height, and in the shape of the bush, and in size, and even in the form of inflorescences, which may differ or be similar in terms of flowering. Sometimes individual varieties of this shrub are so different from each other that it is easier to confuse them with other types of hydrangea than to attribute to the same species.

In fact, there is a suitable variety of this type of hydrangea for any garden. Paniculate beauties can be selected for both small and large gardens, for complex or simple compositions, solo parties or group ensembles, for gardens with a limited range of colors or multicolor, with a stake on the dominance of green or an explosion of colors, originality or stylistic purity. There is the perfect variety for the curb, mixborder and lawn solo.

The use of hydrangea paniculata in landscape design
The use of hydrangea paniculata in landscape design

In the design of the garden, panicle hydrangea is used:

  • to create austere or landscape hedges, alleys, curbs;
  • as a masking element and dividing, zoning bush;
  • as a tall shrub in the middle line of double-sided mixborders and ridges or in the background of mixborders with one-sided view;
  • as an accent on flower beds of any size;
  • in landscape arrays and groups with trees and shrubs;
  • in plantings in a natural style;
  • as a highlighting element in shaded areas of the garden;
  • near buildings and large objects of small architecture.

Diversity, great varietal variety allows you to use panicle hydrangea in any style of landscape design. Previously, it was considered as a plant rather for landscape gardens, plantings in a natural style. But many modern varieties can fit into even the most rigorous regular ensembles. For a garden and styles that use various elements of regular decoration, for projects with a focus on geometry and ceremonial compositions, varieties with very large and dense inflorescences are chosen - such as 'Limelight', 'Phantom', 'Vanille Fraist' and 'Grandiflora' …

For oriental and Asian styles, varieties are chosen with looser panicles of inflorescences, tall, sprawling picturesque bushes (for example, the delightfully graceful 'Unique', 'Floribunda', 'Brussels Lace' and 'Kyushu'). In a modern style, they prefer to use varieties with original inflorescences, such as 'Great Star', in which tiny fruiting flowers contrast with huge, up to 10 cm, four-petal sterile flowers, more reminiscent of propellers. But hydrangeas with an original color, including light green 'Limelight', will fit no worse. For rustic and antique decor, rustic gardens (i.e. gardens in the style of rough natural beauty) are still preferred species rather than varietal panicle hydrangeas.

Breeding has changed the concept of paniculate hydrangea as an exclusively white-flowering shrub. Today, the palette of this plant has been expanded to all possible shades of the white-pink spectrum. Moreover, individual shades and nuances appear as watercolor transitions, the color changes from a lighter color of buds to a saturated one on blossoming flowers, or vice versa; there are differently colored fruiting and non-fruiting flowers. Not to mention the fact that all paniculate hydrangeas are characterized by a change in color as the flowers bloom, darkening or blanching on wilting inflorescences. Still popular are pure white colors, including shining, almost snowy flowers of the unique and beloved varieties 'Dart's Little Dot' and 'Kyushu'. But no less beautiful are the varieties with other colors:

  • offering to admire the creamy shades of "Grandiflora" and "Silver Dollar";
  • pale pink variety 'Renhy' or 'Vanille Fraise'
  • gradually turning pink up to intense dark pink 'Pinky Winky' and 'Pink Diamond'
  • a unique light green variety 'Limelight' with a rich acrylic color, which florists love so much today.

One of the main advantages of panicle hydrangea, which was finally appreciated for its merits, is flowering at not quite typical times, at a time when most garden shrubs have either already left the garden scene or entered the season of fruiting. Panicle hydrangea blooms at a time when even the best late herbaceous perennials with attractive flowering have not yet begun their parade, but all summer species have long since faded. In fact, it is a unique shrub that fills the niche between summer-blooming and autumn-blooming stars with its flowering.

Thanks to him, you can create a baton of continuous flowering and the basis for the design of compositions that are attractive throughout the year. This type of hydrangea appears in all its glory in July and does not leave the garden price until the end of the active season and the arrival of the first serious autumn cold snap. True, in October, mainly new and most lush varieties of this beauty bloom, which are distinguished by the longest flowering or the ability to bloom in several waves. The latest flowering from varieties of panicle hydrangea is typical for varieties 'Pink Diamond', 'Tardiva', 'Limelight'.

Hydrangea paniculata "Renhy" (Hydrangea paniculata 'Renhy')
Hydrangea paniculata "Renhy" (Hydrangea paniculata 'Renhy')
Hydrangea paniculata "Limelight" (Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight')
Hydrangea paniculata "Limelight" (Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight')
Hydrangea paniculata "Pinky Winky" (Hydrangea paniculata 'Pinky Winky')
Hydrangea paniculata "Pinky Winky" (Hydrangea paniculata 'Pinky Winky')

Selection of partners for panicle hydrangea

Due to its flowering time and versatility, panicle hydrangea is a great partner for any garden or arboreal shrub. This plant goes well with early flowering shrubs, including mock orange, forsythia and lilacs. But this type of hydrangea looks no worse in the company of evergreen junipers, firs, thujas, with magnificent rhododendrons or with spectacular holly, dogwood, snowberries, viburnums, barberries and euonymus.

It is quite easy to find partners from among herbaceous perennials. Shade-tolerant panicle hydrangea is perfectly combined with the stars of decorating nooks: hosts, ferns, aquilegia, astilbe, etc.

Despite the rather shallow root system, panicle hydrangea allows you to plant ground cover plants in near-stem circles, which replace mulching, protect the rhizome from overheating. This shrub is combined, for example, with mossy saxifrage, stonecrop, hoofed grass, and other shade-tolerant perennial ground covers.

Conditions required for panicle hydrangeas

The selection of growing conditions for panicle hydrangeas is directly related to their frost resistance and endurance. To succeed with this shrub, it is enough to take care of the main thing - protection from blown winds, refusing to choose open, unprotected sites. It is in places with high wind activity that these hydrangeas freeze slightly. In protected, warm and secluded corners, they will not suffer even in the harshest winters.

Otherwise, the panicle hydrangea deserves the title of an undemanding shrub. The most spectacular flowering from this plant can be achieved in partial shade, but the panicle hydrangea can settle in the sun and with stronger shading. In open sunny areas, the shrub is characterized by slow growth and smaller inflorescences, difficulties arise more often in dense shade, the plant blooms less abundantly, and produces fewer panicles. This type of hydrangea is a gas- and noise-resistant shrub, perfectly tolerates a polluted environment and urban conditions, is not afraid of planting along the roadways, along the perimeter of the site.

But the selection of soils for this shrub will need a much more stringent one. Panicle hydrangea develops normally and blooms magnificently only on sufficiently fertile, moist and loamy soils. She feels great when applying organic and mineral fertilizers during planting, does not tolerate neglected, poor and compacted soil. Particular attention should be paid to the reaction of the soil. For panicle hydrangea, weakly acidic loams are preferred.

Before planting shrubs in the ground, it is advisable to add coniferous soil, mature organic matter, if necessary, lay drainage at the bottom of the planting pits. The acidity of the soil and its reaction directly determine the intensity of the color of the inflorescences of paniculate hydrangea. The most expressive colors are characteristic of this shrub on acidic soil, but on soil with a neutral reaction, the color of the varieties will be paler, and the size of the inflorescences will be significantly inferior to those stated.

Flowerbed with panicle hydrangeas
Flowerbed with panicle hydrangeas

Planting and primary care of panicle hydrangea

It is better to plant panicle hydrangea in a permanent place in the spring in regions with harsh winters (respectively, in spring or autumn - in regions with milder winters). In any case, for a permanent place, it is advisable to use seedlings at four or five years of age.

When planting on flower beds or in groups, in a solo batch, the plants are planted in large planting pits about 40 cm deep and about 60 cm in diameter. For hedges, this hydrangea is placed in large trenches up to 1 m wide. The optimal distance between plants is about 2.5 m or equal to the maximum height of the variety.

Before planting on seedlings, it is advisable to shorten the longest roots and cut off the shoots, leaving 3-4 pairs of buds. Planting is completed not only with abundant watering, but also with mulching with peat, compost, sawdust or any other materials. Maintenance watering is mandatory. In the first year after planting in autumn (or early spring for autumn planting), it is necessary to feed the plants with additional nitrogen fertilizers to accelerate growth.

Caring for paniculate hydrangeas

Despite its status as a hardy, non-capricious and practically maintenance-free plant, one should never forget about one point of care for this shrub: panicle hydrangea does not tolerate droughts too well and will require regular watering during periods when natural rainfall is insufficient. Mandatory procedures are carried out after dressing, during the budding period and throughout the entire flowering. Deep saturation of the soil with moisture is preferable, rather than frequent procedures.

For this plant, it is best to maintain a sufficiently high mulch layer at all times. The soil in the near-stem circle of panicle hydrangea to a height of 5-8 cm is covered with either sawdust, or peat, or any other available material that does not disturb the acidity of the soil. Mulch is renewed in early spring and if necessary.

Several times per season, it is advisable to slightly loosen the soil near the hydrangea, after loosening, be sure to renew the mulch layer.

For abundant flowering, this type of hydrangea will need regular feeding. The first is traditionally applied in early spring, using complex, special acidifying (for rhododendrons) or nitrogen fertilizers. The second feeding is carried out during budding, the third and fourth - during and after flowering, using phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. If the bushes are characterized by too brittle shoots, which are difficult to withstand the weight of the panicles, then it is better to carry out additional feeding with potash fertilizers.

Pruning panicle hydrangea is not as difficult as with other species. It is carried out in early spring, before the onset of swelling and even more so - bud break. The main task is to carry out sanitary cleaning, to remove all damaged, too thin or thickening shoots. Healthy twigs are shortened by 3-4 buds, but such pruning is not necessary. If desired, the bushes can be formed into stricter "balls" or give them the desired shape by more vigorous pruning of the shoots. When inflorescences are chopped up and flowering is more scarce in spring, a more radical thinning of the crown should be carried out.

Withering inflorescences on the bush are cut in late autumn on the eve of winter to prevent the shoots from breaking off. If the branches are not fragile, then dry inflorescences are left to decorate the winter garden. Sometimes branches need support during flowering.

Panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata)
Panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata)

Winter hardiness and durability are some of the best

The main advantage of panicle hydrangea is its endurance. Despite the fact that the varietal diversity of this plant has expanded, and today this type of hydrangea is no longer represented by just a few cultivars, one should not associate the panicle hydrangea with other capricious and low-tolerant species. Unlike its super popular counterparts, panicle hydrangea is capable of surprising with its winter hardiness, cold resistance, and the ability to quickly recover. In terms of frost resistance, panicle hydrangea is much superior to tree, large-leaved and any other variety.

Varietal novelties are considered less frost-resistant, capable of withstanding winters only up to -25 degrees, but it should be borne in mind that, provided that you buy varieties adapted to your area, shrubs will perfectly cope with more severe winters, especially if the places for their planting are selected correctly. Under suitable conditions, the panicle hydrangea is able to endure even abnormal and unstable winters, but in leeward areas, in a situation where the branches of this hydrangea still freeze over, it still quickly recovers and blooms luxuriantly already this year. It will be possible to enjoy the flowering of paniculate hydrangea even if it is severely frozen to the level of snow.

Panicle hydrangea belongs to the best long-lived shrubs. She is able to decorate gardens for more than half a century without loss of decorativeness. For these plants, it is necessary to very carefully select the conditions and place of planting, because such shrubs are really brought into projects for many years.

Pest and disease control

Paniculate hydrangea is rightfully ranked among the most resistant to pests and diseases of this shrub species.

Hydrangea paniculata (Hydrangea paniculata)
Hydrangea paniculata (Hydrangea paniculata)

Reproduction of panicle hydrangeas

Paniculata hydrangea is propagated using cuttings that are fixed in the soil around the perimeter of the bush, providing regular moisture to accelerate rooting, or by cuttings. For the latter, you can use the tops of the shoots remaining in the spring after trimming (provided that there are 4-5 buds on them). After treatment in a growth accelerator, they are planted in an acidic loose soil and, with the provision of shading and regular moistening of the soil, they maintain constant greenhouse conditions.

Summer cuttings on this type of hydrangea are very difficult, because only 5 days are allotted for it - from June 10 to 15. Lignified cuttings are cut from the lower part of the shoots using areas without flower buds and segments no more than 10 cm long, breaking them together with the heel by hand. Cuttings also require treatment with growth accelerators, removal of lower leaves and shortening of upper leaves. Rooting takes about 1 month, subject to the creation of greenhouse conditions and shading.

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