Hydrangeas Love Water

Hydrangea 'Mothlight'

Yesterday the Toronto gardeners and sisters Helen and Sarah Battersby, reminded me that hydrangeas like a lot of water.  ”Hydra” is right there in its name so it shouldn’t be too hard to remember.  Fortunately, my ‘Mothlight’ hydrangea purchased a number of years ago from Nasami Farm (before it belonged to the New England Wildflower Society )  was planted where I do some watering. The bush itself got much bigger than I expected!

'Mothlight' blossom

I bought ‘Mothlight’ because I like the airiness of the blossom. I am not sure that it qualifies as as a lacecap, but the flower does not have the density of the mopheads.

Oakleaf hydrangea 6-30

Last summer I bought the native oakleaf hydrangea (shown above) from Nasami Farm. It is still hardly more than a foot tall, but you can see it beginning to blossom. I later bought a ‘Limelight’ hydrangea from Shelburne Farm and Garden. Their purchase, and planting behind the peonies was part of my lawn eradication project.  I expect both of these bushes to reach substantial size, not only tall, but more importantly for my purposes, they will have a wide spread.  My plan is that ultimately the hydrangeas will nearly fill the space between the peonies and the road.  Last summer was very rainy and even if I had been thinking about how thirsty hydrangeas are I wouldn’t have needed to water them.  However they are planted in a spot that drains very well and is quite dry.  This spring I added a ‘Pinky Winky’.  Water is essential for good bloom  I  will water all three well today.