I'm working on my woodland garden and need suggestions. I want a blue that will take quite a bit of shade. I would say >65% shade. Keeping it blue won't be a problem as the soil is very acidic (in the mid 4 range) OK Luis what's your ideas? It will be up on this hill. I already have three Oakleafs scattered around the area.
Doug
I am not Luis but I can recommend the Forever and Ever blue heaven.
When mine bloomed this year I was so happy with the color and the form.
http://www.foreverhydrangea.com/info_blueheaven.aspx
You are bound to get a jillion suggestions to such a question, Doug. It is, after all, a matter of personal taste. Here is a list of other good blues: Enziandom gets some real nice blues and is good for drying; Vibraye (has a long name... General V-or-C-something de Vibraye) has lighter blues; Marechal Foch is another nice shrub with deep blues; Nikko Blue (goes without saying); Blue Bird (a nice lace cap; the sepals turn upside down after a while so they will look pinkish in the Fall); Blue Prince (another good performer), Ayesha (has light blue globular sepals).
It is a big space so you could add some others. These are not blues obviously but then, they are some very nice paniculatas.... Pink Diamond; Quickfire; Limelight (nice greens); Tardiva (always blooms late); Vanilla Strawberry (awesome looking European new entry for 2010 but it is new so the jury is still out)... and not quite sure but worth mentioning... Pinky Winky (some people have complained while others report no problems so go figure; very good-looking double colored blooms).
This message was edited Oct 29, 2009 11:12 PM
I specifically wanted a blue because I have a bench that is going there that will be painted a bright cobalt blue and I wanted the blues to complement each other! Thanks for the suggestions. So a Nikko will do OK in that much shade? It actually does get a little dappled sunlight throughout the day, but not much. I guess it might be considered a bright shade since I took out some of the taller trees about three years ago to lighten up the area and force the Beech trees to grow larger. I have updated pics of the area in question I will post later.
Doug
Shade does not affect the bloom's color per se as much as it can affect the number of blooms produced. Soil acidity would affect the color more. The front of my house sounds a lot like your location.... it has bright shade and camellias and hydrangeas grown well there.
I'll second Luis's recommendation for Blue Bird and Ayesha. The latter is beyond gorgeous.
And I think a Limelight in addition to some of those blues would really set the blues off. To me, a Limelight, and a cobalt blue bench would be heavenly.
