Love hydrangeas? Here’s how to surround yourself with the large, shade-loving blooms

The third week of July is the beginning of hydrangea season. I love hydrangeas so much that I have an entire outdoor garden room devoted to shade-loving hydrangeas. (You can see the blue and white blooms by following me on Instagram or Facebook @mariannebinetti. )

To create walls of hydrangeas here in Western Washington, you just need a spot shaded from the hot afternoon sun and a planting bed in a circular shape with an opening between the shrubs.

Now here’s the garden gossip on hydrangeas. They look like bare sticks in the winter so a screen of evergreens in front of your hydrangea circle will give your room a sense of privacy and also hide the bare-naked knees of your hydrangeas while they are dormant. I used pieris japonica to screen my hydrangea room in winter.

You can mound the soil in the planting bed before you plant so that the newly added hydrangeas will have more height, but in as little as three years, most hydrangeas will be at eye level and creating the blooming walls all around you as you enter your own private hydrangea room.

Q. I would like to grow a hydrangea tree. I was told that hydrangeas will not grow in a tree form, but I remember seeing a photo of your front yard and you had a white hydrangea tree blooming in the late summer. What type of hydrangea was it? — J., Olympia

A. You are correct. I do have a tree or what is called a “standard” form of hydrangea at the corner of our house, and the variety is called the Pee Gee hydrangea or Hydrangea paniculata. This variety can handle some afternoon sun and can be pruned in late winter as it blooms on new wood each year.

The blooms are pointed not round and they start out white then turn to cream and finally fade to a russet or pink. If you prune back most of the branches, you get less blooms but they are huge in size. If you prune a little, or not at all, you will have many branches with smaller flower clusters.

You can purchase Pee Gee hydrangeas in tree form from local nurseries or place an order for one at your local nursery and they can bring one in from a wholesale grower.

You also can try pruning a shrubby Pee Gee hydrangea into a tree form. Chose a main branch and tie it to a stake as a trunk. Cut off the rest of the branches. When the main leader branches out this will be the framework for the standard form. It will take 5-7 years to grow a Pee Gee hydrangea into a tree form on your own, so buying one already formed is a good investment.

Q. We were at a park in Victoria, B.C., and they had a shrub with huge, round white blooms. We were told it was a hydrangea. These white blooms were as big as basketballs! What kind of hydrangea was this and will it grow in the Tacoma area? — T.P., Tacoma

A. Yes! The amazing “Incrediball” hydrangea thrives in Western Washington and does best in full sun, unlike the more traditional blue or pink mophead hydrangea. Also called the Smooth Hydrangea as the foliage has less notching, the Incrediball is an improved form of the “Annabelle” hydrangea and both are always white and cannot be made to bloom pink or blue. The stems are very strong to support the huge blooms but do not over fertilize or try to grow it in the shade or the stems will flop.

If you do not have room for this massive shrub (it will grow 6 feet by 6 feet), there is a dwarf version called “Invincibelle Wee White” hydrangea that starts white and fades to pink. It stays around 3 feet by 3 feet and can adapt to a half day of sun. The compact size makes it easy to tuck into perennial gardens or as a foundation plant close to the house.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.

Here Marianne speak

• 10 a.m. Saturday, July 23, at Molbak’s Garden + Home, 13625 NE 175th St, Woodinville. Topic will be “Gardening on the Dark Side.” Free. Register at www.molbaks.com or just show up.
  
  
• 11:30 a.m. Sunday, July 24, at Auburn Farmers Market, Les Gove Park, 1140 Auburn Way S, Auburn. Topic will be “Year Round Color.” Free.
  
  

This story was originally published July 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.