I'm looking for suggestions for hydrangeas to put on the North side of the house as foundation planting.
Hoping for blue and really long blooming. Already have the Endless Summer.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Suggestions solicited for blue hydrangeas long blooming
Hi Lillyo,
I just planted my first hydrangea last spring (Parzifal) so I don't have much experience; but based on descriptions I've read in catalogs, there is one called "All Summer Beauty" that might be what you are looking for.
I know Bluestone Perennials has it. http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/HYSBP.html
The people at Bluestone are pretty helpful. If you call them they may be able to give you more information about it.
Hope this info helps.
This message was edited Apr 15, 2007 1:04 PM
'All Summer Beauty' is a nice one, if not that one I would definitely recommend another reblooming variety to give you the longest bloom period. I need to ask though--do you know what your soil pH is? If your soil is alkaline you'll have to do some amending to bring the pH down before any hydrangea will give you a nice blue color. You mentioned that this was for a foundation planting, and the concrete from the foundation will tend to make the soil near it more on the alkaline side. If you've never measured your pH, you can make a good guess based on what color 'Endless Summer' bloomed for you--if it bloomed on the pinkish side then your soil's more on the alkaline side and 'All Summer Beauty' (or others) will tend to bloom pinkish as well, but if it bloomed blue then 'All Summer Beauty' should do so as well.
The Endless Summer bloomed blue because I adjusted the pH with Miracid.
Funny that you should mention it, but I also have an All Summer Beauty in another spot from Bluestone. This is a really good company!
The Endless Summer and All Summer Beauty are similar enough that I am wondering if they are the same cultivar with two different trade names. What do you think?
I think they're different cultivars, although the difference may be pretty subtle. If you read the comments in the Plant Files entry for 'All Summer Beauty', someone comments that ES has deeper blue flowers and ASB is a little more pale. But depending on your soil pH you may or may not really notice much of a difference.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/49159/
Now that you mention it, it does seem like Endless Summer's blooms are sronger in color than All Summer Beauty's. I had attributed it to different locations and different soil pH, but maybe it is the difference between cultivars.
The catalog and magazine pictures do seem to be showing this same difference in color intensity, but advertising pictures are so often misleading.
Would be interested in hearing from gardeners with both hydrangeas as to their experience with color intensity.