This plant is not only lovely but also tough as nails. Mine sat in a pot in the shade for two and a half years, was transplanted mid-sum...Read Moremer last year. Promptly lost all it leaves and continued to die rest of summer. I ignored it, went out May 31 this year, and there was a gorgeous rosette of silver-backed leaves. How it survived its neglect, almost plant-abuse, I don't know...but I'm on the lookout for another to plant near it!
In "Hydrangeas for American Gardens," by Michael A. Dirr (2004), it says:
Subspecies radiata 'Samantha' is a sterile-flowe...Read Morered form with the flowerhead shape somewhere in between 'Annabelle' and 'Grandiflora'. Flowerheads are 4" to 6" in diameter, emerge green, mature white, fading to green and finally parchment. Sepals in (3s) 4s(5s), 1 to 1-1/2 inches across, and each sepal broad-ovate to rounded, entire, slightly overlapping, and 3/8" to 5/8" wide and 1/2" to 3/4" long. Leaves are silver-whitish backed.
This subspecies requires cooler day/night temperatures than are available in zone 7 and 8, so are better for more northern gardens.
This plant is not only lovely but also tough as nails. Mine sat in a pot in the shade for two and a half years, was transplanted mid-sum...Read More
In "Hydrangeas for American Gardens," by Michael A. Dirr (2004), it says:
Subspecies radiata 'Samantha' is a sterile-flowe...Read More