I ordered it from Lazy S's Farm, and it should be arriving the first week in May. Is there anything special I need to know about hydrangeas? Any special treatment when I plant it? I read through a bunch of the links in the sticky, so I have a general idea. Just a little nervous with my first one!
My mom also ordered a Pinky Winky--wish I'd gotten one of those, too!
Angie
I ordered my first hydrangea, a Hydrangea serrata 'Preziosa'
I'd put it somewhere that it gets morning sun but afternoon shade. And I'm pretty sure that Preziosa is not one of the cultivars that blooms on new wood, so that means in your zone if you want flowers you'll have to protect it for the winter so that the buds don't freeze off (a lot of people make a wire cage then pile leaves in it, but I'm sure there are other methods that would work as well). Also don't prune it too late in the fall or else you'll prune off the part where next year's blooms would be forming. Your mom won't have to worry about any of that for Pinky Winky, it's a different hydrangea species and is hardier and blooms on new wood so it will bloom fine without protection.
The serratas are supposed to be a bit hardier than the macrophyllas but I wouldn't over winter one here without a cage of oak leaves or something similar. Otherwise you might never see a flower. I just put a Hydrangea paniculata 'Pinky Winky" in the ground. Hope it lives up to its hype. As ercane3 said this one will not need any winter protection. It also can be pruned to restrict growth and still flower. You will have fewer flowers but they will be larger. If you don't prune paniculatas annually eventually the get rangy and unproductive and need rejuvenation pruning.
I think (not positive though) that Pinky Winky is supposed to be smaller and more compact than the typical paniculatas. I hope I'm right, I ordered one because I liked the flowers but didn't want something huge, and I thought I'd read that it was smaller.
I've got the Proven Winners tag right here. All muddy and everything. Size: height 6-8' width 5'. I think you have more experience with paniculatas than I do. To me that is large. I plan on annual pruning as illustrated in the The American Horticuture Society Guide to Pruning ( boy I love that book). I punch a hole in the plant tag, write on it the date the plant went in the ground and keep the tags together on a large key ring. It's quicker going through a key ring with tags that have pictures than it is to leaf back through a garden journal (although I keep one of those too). The rest of the tag reads Exposure Full sun to partial shade. Season Late summer to fall. Hardy to -30. Zone: 4-8. My kind of shrub!
As for smaller hydranges I'm shopping for a Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey'. That one has the common oak leaf but it stays a golden chartreuse color with white flowers. It's maximum height is suppode to be 4'. Small for a quercifolia. It also needs partial shade. This fits the situation I have in one particular spot. Now I just need to find one locally or get it ordered.
So, are most paniculatas larger than Pinky Winky? I really don't know.
I don't know paniculatas that well--Pinky Winky is actually my first and I just got it. Some of them can get more like 10 feet though, and that would definitely be too big for the area I'm planning to put it. All my other hydrangeas are macrophyllas and serratas. I was thinking it got to about 6', so sounds like I may have to prune it a bit, but hopefully not too much.
I like your idea of the keyring for the plant tags--I tried keeping them for a while in a box, but they were so horribly disorganized that I just gave up and threw them out some year during spring cleaning and I haven't even tried since then! I track things in my journal on here, and for the ones that I think I might forget the name of I stick tags in the garden beds next to them.
Squirrels here run off with plants tags almost as soon as you put them in the ground. The key ring thing I can't take credit for. I read it in a magazine quite some time ago. It's one the easiest ways to keep all the plant info at your fingertips. I used to use the plant tags as book marks in garden books. That was really, really disorganized!
Oh, I'd never find them if I did that! I misplace my gardening books all the time, so there's no way I'd be able to keep track of tags that way! LOL
You've got that right. Every now and then I find a long lost plant tag in an old garden book. What a dumb idea that was. I'm rummaging around the junk drawers looking for another large key ring. I'm going to separate the tags into two groups, one for shrubs and trees and the other for all the rest. I might try a third for annuals. If I don't keep the tag I don't remember what worked and more importantly what didn't, especially for container plants. The garden journal is important, but having the tag with the picture is a great reminder of performance. Last year I used 28 different annuals in containers. Most worked out well but a few were stinkers. Just slap a frowny face on the picture on the tag and ouila'. Review the tags before I head to the garden center and I don't repeat the mistake. Instead I make some new ones! ;>)
Now really, really wishing I'd gotten a Pinky Winky, too (instead?). I had no idea that I'd need to offer winter protection for the Preziosa. Sigh. I kind of prefer "plant 'em and forget 'em" plants. LOL Oh, well. It looks gorgeous, so hopefully will be worth any extra work.
As snapple mentioned above, the serratas are a little hardier than the macrophyllas, so you might still get some flowers if you don't protect it. I imagine you'll have more flowers and it'll bloom more reliably if you protect it though.
LOL I must have told my mom once or twice (or a dozen times?) that I wished I'd gotten a Pinky Winky, too, because she just gave me one for an early birthday present! Now I'll get to experiment with both the Preziosa and the Pinky Winky. Wish me luck!
Awesome! You shouldn't have any trouble with Pinky Winky, it should be plenty hardy in your zone, no protection necessary. What a nice birthday gift!
My Preziosa arrived today. I was very pleased with the packing from Lazy S Farm. It sat at the post office all weekend, as we don't have home delivery and they are only open 2 hours on Saturday, and they were still in great shape. Here is a picture, along with the dictamnus I ordered for my DH. The hydrangea is on the left, the taller plant, and the dictamnus on the right.
Still trying to decide on the best location for it. Don't have a lot in the way of morning sun, afternoon shade.
And here is my Pinky Winky, which I planted out about a week ago. It looks very happy, and is sending up lots of new leaves! I just put the cage around it for now, until my DH and next door neighbor get it through their skulls that this plant is SUPPOSED to be there, and don't dig it up or mow over it.
Remember to mulch it, bookerc1!
I've got 10 big bags of mulch in the back of my van right now, just waiting to be spread. I'll make sure a nice thick layer gets around the Hydrangea! Thanks!
This is Pinky Winky planted 04/18/2008. It had not leafed out yet when it first went into the ground. Hydrangeas, like a lot of other stuff, have trouble competing with grass at its roots.
This is Hydrangea serrata 'Blue Deckle" It was planted 09/16/2007 - a little late going into the ground with winter coming on. It was completely covered with oak leaves in a wire cage for the winter. All the growth in the picture is new growth. None of the old wood survived. I've read that 'Blue Deckle' can be touchy. I have a feeling I'm going to find out just how touchy! It is a smaller hydrangea, only reaching 3 x 4 at maturity. If you're lucky enough to get it there.
I have not heard that Blue Deckle is touchy although who knows what was meant by that??? Hee hee hee. I do love the look of its blooms and the fall foliage. Are you planning to use Pinky Winky for dried flowers? I have heard that its blooms are good for dried flowers.
About Pinky Winky I'm just hoping to get flowers that look like the ones in the marketing photos! If I do I probably won't want to cut any. :) How long have you had Blue Deckle and is it as slow a grower as I've read?