Hydrangea variagated

Here is a pic of my hydrangea plant, has not bloomed yet, it`s a variagated blue flwrs

Very nice looking but the soil looks wet. Did it just rain when you took the picture or was it the sprinkler?

Thanks, I had just watered.

I may try one in the future as it is a spectacular shrub and lacecaps are a great counterpoint to mopheads. Sadly, I do not have a location with deep shade and the leaves have more variegation in deeper shade. For now, I will do with non-variegated H. Fuji Waterfall until a location for a variegated hydrangea becomes available in my garden.

Ooh! Fuji Waterfall is lovely and was much talked about on the Hydrangea threads about two years ago. Such great form/shape to the cascading flowers.

I have two babies of the variegated and appreciate knowing that there's more variegation in deeper shade - thanks luis_pr.

Yes, this one likes full shade, I had to move this plant twice before it got happy here, almost died in too much sun. I can`t wait to see the flowers.

I got two of these at HD a couple of months ago and have started cuttings. I will have to wait till next spring/summer to see the flowers too but Im sure the wait will be worth it.

I have one of these and it was blooming when I bought, bloomed that summer but did not bloom in 2007. It seems I read somewhere it is very unlikely that these will bloom and I don't know if that means in my growing zone or what. Anyway if it doesn't bloom it is a beautiful shrub but I am stsill hoping. I do know that it blooms on old wood and last spring we had a deep freeze Easter and the cold lasted for several weeks. Hope for a beautiful spring. Are you with me. lol

The Great Easter Freeze took a terrible toll here in NW Ohio. I sure don't want to experience another! I will be real reluctant to remove the oak leaf mulch cages this spring from the hydrangeas for fear I will have to hurry and put them back up in case Mother Nature acts up again. This fall I planted Hydrangea a. petiolaris ‘Firefly' on the west side of a big old oak tree. Hope this climbing varigate lives up tp its hype.


http://www.tangledroots.biz/plants/firefly.htm

Indynanny--in your zone, you'll need to protect it for the winter if you want it to bloom. Left without protection, you've got a good chance of losing most of your buds even in a winter where you don't have a late freeze like last year. Lots of people build wire cages around the plants and fill it up with leaves in the fall, then remove in spring and you should get some blooms.

ecrane3
Thanks for the tip about the wire cage. I'll try to remember that for next year. I did put some straw around it . Just tore big clumps off a bale and set around and tied. The reason I never used leaves is I only have maple leaves and they mat pretty easily. Seems like I heard that oak leaves are the best and we don't have oak trees, unfortunately. I have a friend who has one ][the hydrangea] and it has never bloomed . Guess we'll have to live with our zone envy.

Straw should be fine too, a lot of people use leaves because they're convenient, but pretty much anything ought to work as long as you pile enough of it around the plant.

This hydrangia usually has white lacecap type flowers. I live in calif near the coast and they do well here.. The only thing is that in some cases this one is very difficult when it comes to mildew. Probably further from the coast its better. The white and green leaf make it a stand out ,but is not a heavy bloomer, especially in too much shade. Best morning sun, afternoon shade ad not too hot.

Thank you for the info.
I noticed, after we had all this rain in calif, this plant turned a brownish color. I guess it didnt like the rain.

Or maybe it is finally going dormant in your zone. My hydrangeas look like dry sticks now.

What is the name of the variegated hydrangea at the start of this thread in the picture ?

Thanks, kdcon

sowmo--I agree with luis, I think your plant is just going dormant. My hydrangeas were very late going dormant this year, most of them still have leaves on them now but they're sort of brown and ugly looking. Nothing to do with the rain, it would have happened with or without it. You'll get nice new leaves in spring.

kdcon, I think the proper name is Hydrangea Macrophylla Variegata. Another variegated hydrangea is Hydrangea Macrophylla Maculata (sometimes called Mariesii).

Thank you for the name. I have a shady spot left and this might fit the bill. Will do some in depth checking on it now to see if I could grow it in zone 4/5.

Thanks again, kdcon

You'll have to protect it really well. I think these are only considered hardy to zone 5, so just to get it to survive from one year to the next you'll need to protect it. And it's going to be even tougher for it to bloom--in zone 5 & 6 people need to protect these over the winter so that the buds don't freeze, so you'd need an extra thick layer of protection to give it a chance to have blooms. There are other hydrangea species other than H. macrophylla which are hardy all the way to zone 3 and bloom on new wood, so they'd probably do better for you. Any of the cultivars of H. arborescens and H. paniculata would be less high-maintenance--I'm not sure if there are any with pretty variegation like this, but you'll enjoy flowers more reliably and won't have to go to as much trouble with them.

Right on Ercane3, trouble they are! Bit Oh My what a show if you can pull it off.

Don't want to push the zone w/ a shade plant. Have 10 endless Summers that do very well. They die back to the ground, so thanks to blooming on new wood also they come back great every year. Too bad as I love the Variegated foliage for a shady spot. Will keep my eyes open for some hardy ones. Thanks, kdcon

If all you care about is the foliage then you'd be fine--it'll die back just like Endless Summer but then should come back, only thing is you won't get flowers because they bloom on old wood. But the foliage would be fine.

If you like variegated hydrangea foliage then consider Lemon Wave. I have it and it is well worth it for the foliage.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/49274/

ecrane3 and snapple45, Thats great info, I will be looking for some this spring. Yes I mostly would like them for the foliage in a shady area. I can mulch heavy to keep the plant from dying but as ecrane noted that the buds must be protected from freezing also. that would be quite a task here. Hey, only 3 months till average last freeze and planting time, the excitement is building.

Thanks again for the info, kdcon

snapple, is 'Lemon Wave' hardey here in zone 5? I see we are in the same zone.

It dies back to the ground, but quickly attains a height of three feet or more each season. I give it no protection, other than being sheltered from strong winds in its location inside a fence corner. Once, we had a mild enough winter that it bloomed the next season. The lacecaps were a real treat. If I protected it, it would most likely bloom every year. Mine is coming into it's fifth spring.

I want one. willstart looking. I have a varigated but don't know it's name.

Bailey Nurseries out of Minnesota has a cultivar named 'Light-O-Day' that I have had in my garden in zone 5a for four years. It did not bloom last year because of the Easter freeze, but bloomed very well its second summer and I hope it will perform well this year. It has blue lacecap flowers and beautiful variegated foliage. I also have a three year old 'Lemon Wave' that has never given up a flower but the foliage is very nice.

Hello terrimckyd, I just bought a couple of the "Light-O-Day" hydrangeas and was wondering how much sun is needed for these guys. I work in a garden center and we had ours right out in the full sun all day long in zone 7a and the leaves never got sunscalded but I want to plant mine in mostly shade. They will get some morning sun.

Light-o-day was supposed to be another in the Endless Summer Series. Its name was going to be Eclipse but suddendly got pulled back due to concerns that the repeat blooming was not as much as the regular ES. They also switched selling it from blue pots to black ones. I am not sure what tells me so could anyone who purchased Light-o-day in 2005 chime in on the subject of repeat blooming? terrimckyd?

This message was edited Jun 26, 2008 4:44 AM

This is the second sumer for my "Light-o-Day". It was planted in morning sun, but this year I pruned some trees severly back and it is now in full sun until 2:00. It is doing ok so far, lots of sturdy branches and beautiful leaves. But no blooms yet, I also have "Sister Theresa", two"Bits of Lace", "Endless Summer" and another I cannot remember. But my fave by far is the "Bits of Lace" -very prolific lace cap.

Sorry for the response delay...My 'Light of Day' hydrangeas have not bloomed at all since the second summer they were in. The last two winters I have piled mulch on to help protect them from the desiccation and cold of winter. Though last summer's crop of flowers was fabulous on almost every other hydrangea I grow flowered beautifully, nary a flower a bud on the variegated plants. I have one in shade, two in sun. I am content with the beautiful leaves, though! The one in the shade is the most healthy and gorgeous in leaf.

I know nothing about pot color significance. Here's hoping a flower or two show up this year!

Do not despair yet because of lack of blooms, terrimckyd, since they sure look incredibly nice even without blooms. Don't they? Just keep control of the basics and see if it finally blooms. It would help if we could tell whether it is not able to develop flower buds at all or if the flower buds are getting aborted but this is way difficult to tell. So, just make sure the soil remains moist (not wet) especially from July thru blooming time; do not let water accumulate near it; mulch 3-4" past the drip line; don't overdo the amount of nitrogen via fertilizers (just apply once -in June- 1/2 to 1cup of manure or cottonseed meal); keep lawn fertilizers away from it and make sure it gets at least two hours of sun.

Thanks Luis! I mainly use compost and Espoma's Hollytone and they are in mulched beds. I pull the extra mulch off after frost danger has passed. The one that bloomed after its first winter is my oldest plant and the healthiest. I will cross my fingers!

Mine is starting to come up from the ground and I have just given up having blooms and am going to be content with the beautiful foliage. If I would ever move S I will dig it up and take it with me. LOL