The best varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas for the middle lane

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Today it is difficult to believe that several decades ago large-leaved hydrangeas in regions with severe winters were considered a rarity and almost exotic. One could only dream of the most spectacular and famous of hydrangeas, because for the middle band they seemed completely unsuitable. But over the years of trial and error, not only a proper care and protection strategy for the winter has appeared, but also many varieties of hydrangeas that adapt perfectly to harsh climates. Today, old varieties are increasingly giving way to delicious new cultivars with improved endurance.

Content:

The advantages of large-leaved hydrangeas in comparison with other species
How to choose "your" large-leaved hydrangea?
15 interesting hardy varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas
The best series of varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas for the middle lane

The advantages of large-leaved hydrangeas in comparison with other species

Large-leaved hydrangeas remain today the most favorite garden species of hydrangea. Even though they are far from always the most decorative and “reliable” ones, it was large-leaved beauties that became a kind of standard among these shrubs - both in the effect of large hats and in the attractiveness of bright foliage. Yes, perhaps, in different forms of cultivation and the possibilities of using gardens as decoration.

One of the main "trump cards" of large-leaved hydrangeas is a wide variety of colors. The color palette even for the same plant varies depending on the composition and characteristics of the soil, the quantity and quality of fertilizing, the characteristics of water for irrigation and weather.

Changing the acidity of the soil, in pink (but not white) varieties of hydrangeas, rare blue and blue colors can be obtained. But large-leaved hydrangeas also have thousands of varieties that are distinguished by the special charm of flowering, flower sizes, color changes as they bloom or wither ... And each variety of large-leaved hydrangeas is unique.

Old varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas, which appeared in garden centers and botanical gardens before the middle of the last century, have long been a rarity. New, improved versions of even classic varieties offer impressive bonuses to spectacular flowering:

ability to better endure harsh winters under proper shelter (their frost resistance is up to -30 degrees);
quick recovery;
resistance to pests and diseases.

How to choose "your" large-leaved hydrangea?

But the choice of new varieties is not an easy task at all. And it only complicates the situation with the separation of varieties into potted and intended for open soil, which today is almost unchanged: many hydrangeas are sold as plants that can be planted in the garden, others only as potted or indoor forms. Although, as a rule, there is not much difference between these varieties.

The differences in winter hardiness of acclimatized and imported hydrangeas are much more important: in order to get a shrub that is capable of surviving even the most unpredictable winters, albeit with shelter, it is necessary to choose varieties that have been adapted in local nurseries and garden centers grown in your region or similar climatic conditions.

Verification of the declared frost resistance is very important. Indeed, even in the most reliable proven varieties brought from Europe, the characteristics will differ from domestic planting material. Therefore, before buying, always check the information about the plant and do not hesitate to ask in more detail about how the seedlings were grown, what conditions and shelters they were used to.

Despite the fact that an individual approach and the choice of regional plants is the best strategy, among the varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas there are cultivars that have proven themselves better than others in regions with severe winters. Such hydrangeas are considered reliable, they are recommended to be chosen for acquaintance with large-leaved hydrangeas, the creation of skeletal plantings, hedges or single flower beds with a single shrub.

In the cultivation of selected varieties in the middle zone, problems or difficulties are less likely to occur, the plants are well studied and tested by dozens of gardeners from various regions.

Selected and verified does not mean boring. Varieties of hydrangeas, which are suitable for growing in the middle lane, are able to surprise not only with the classic palette. Among the best cultivars, there are original colors and remontant stars that bloom repeatedly and are especially plentiful.

Let's get to know better the best varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas for the middle lane.

15 interesting hardy varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas

"Papillon" - a charming terry variety of hydrangea, changing a bright pink color to reddish green when it blooms. The compact size of the bush, rather dark leaves and a special density of inflorescences only emphasize how flowers like this hydrangea are similar to roses.

Blueberry Cheesecake - a repairing hydrangea cultivar with a compact meter bush, the width of which always exceeds the height. The “Blueberry Cheesecake" blooms only in July, but pleases with flowering until October. Half-double flowers with purple bracts and a light yellow center look original, the leaves are very dark in summer and red in autumn.

"Quadricolor" - a sprawling hydrangea variety up to one and a half meters high with very large, up to 20 cm leaves of saturated green color, decorated with interesting spots. Large inflorescences-shields surprise with a pink-whitish color, which on acidic soil can easily be changed to blue tones.

"Spike" - a very beautiful ruffle repairing variety of hydrangea with dark pink, with a slight purple tint, the color of flowers conquering the wavy corrugated edge of the petals. The inflorescences are large, spherical, the flowers in them are so densely arranged that they cannot open to the end. The main color appears only with time, replacing the white-blue-green shades of young flowers that appear in July. The greens in the variety are very bright.

"Green Shadow" - a hydrangea variety with a strikingly dense and strict-looking bush up to 1 m high and a very original color of inflorescences, in which the rich green color is combined with the burgundy-bloody tips of the petals and uneven spots, gradually covering the whole flower, starting from the edges and spreading to the middle. This is a fast-growing variety with inflorescences that do not fade in the fall and bright leaf color.

"Cotton Candy" - one of the best hybrid varieties of hydrangea, combining an interesting wavy or scalloped edge of bright pink "candy" petals with a light yellow-green spot in the center of the flower. The bush is compact, thick, meter-tall and diameter, surprises with its dark, uneven color of leaves. Inflorescences are not dense, but openwork. The stems are highly branched and are highly durable. This repairing variety seems amazingly openwork and solemnly noble.

"Gerda Steiniger" - a large one and a half meter and very bright variety with spherical caps of inflorescences of strikingly saturated raspberry-lilac color, the hue of which varies depending on the composition of the soil, but is uniform throughout the inflorescence. Color changes throughout the summer. Direct shoots and bright leaves emphasize the ideal form of inflorescences. This large-leaved hydrangea grows very quickly and recovers with freezing.

Tricolor - One of the best varieties of hydrangea with erect stiff shoots and stunningly beautiful variegated foliage. Shields of inflorescences from white flowers only emphasize uneven yellow and white spots on the muffled green leaves of the plant. The only drawback of the variety is its extreme intolerance to alkaline soils.

"Bailmer" series Endless summer - the legendary repairing variety of hydrangea, considered the standard for cultivation in the middle lane. The color of flowers varies from delicate pinks to blue. But always inflorescences are large, up to 20 cm in diameter, balls that appear only at the end of July. Toothed leaves of a dark color and a powerful bush, up to 2 m high, along with strong straight stems make this hydrangea a favorite not only of gardeners, but also florists. Today it is this variety that is considered the most winter-hardy of all large-leaved.

"Blushing Bride" Endless Summer series is a new version of the legendary variety, which is distinguished by pastel fawn, delicate, watercolor colors. This is a semi-double variety with white flowers and light, almost imperceptible pink, lilac and blue, with blurry spots and a dark center. Repeated flowering starts earlier than other varieties, hydrangea is the most resistant to diseases.

Hanabi - A unique hydrangea cultivar with a star-shaped terry-shaped flowers of snow-white color. The bushes are quite powerful and fast-growing, up to 1.5 m high, with dark, saturated leaves. Spherical inflorescences seem amazingly heavy.

"Hamburg" - one of the best bright pink varieties of hydrangea with dense inflorescences with a diameter of up to 25 cm, capable of acquiring a saturated blue color on acidic soil. The petals are decorated with fringe. The bush is meter, strong, the leaves are very bright.

"Lemmenhof" - blooming in June, a watercolor variety of hydrangea, forming powerful one and a half meter bushes. Flattened, but very large inflorescences surprise with their pink, delicate, with a brightening center flowers, and the leaves conquer with a saturated bright color.

Nikko Blue - a star among blue-bloomed hydrangeas. A very dense crown of a bush up to one and a half meters is combined with bright green foliage. This is a repair hydrangea, which is sold as exceptionally blue, but it shows true color only on acidic soil. On neutral and alkaline, its color changes from bright blue to almost white. The variety usually blooms in June.

"Lanarth White" - one of the most beautiful white-flowered varieties of large-leaved hydrangea. It looks delicate and elegant, especially in the initial stage of flowering. The crown is wide, meter high, the leaves are dark green with a slight reddish bloom. Flowering starts in July, inflorescences are surprising in size - up to 30 cm in diameter. A snow-white tone is combined with an almost elusive soft pink or soft blue along the edge, but you can only see shades close.

It is also worth paying attention to other fashionable varieties of hydrangea:

dark pink grade "Admiration";
unpretentious terry hydrangea varieties Coco with triangular petals;
grade Eva Lyon Holmes with medium-sized, but amazingly dense hemispheres of inflorescences, changing on acidic soils a candy pink color to bright blue;
"Early Sensation" - one of the early flowering varieties with a dense, but not strict crown, decorated with a gold border, copper autumn foliage and June flowering in bright pink colors;
"All Summer Beauty" - razlazny variety of hydrangea with a spreading crown, large caps of inflorescences, which combine in various combinations white, cream, blue and pink colors in a variety of shades (usually on one bush you can count up to 20 half tones depending on the soil);
Madame Emile Mouilliere - a spreading variety with white-cream flowers, decorated with a pink or blue eye;
General Vicomtesse de Vibraye - a high grade with spherical large inflorescences and large soft pink or light blue flowers with a diameter of up to 5 cm;
“Let’s Dance Starlight” - Repairing hydrangea with a cold shade of delicate pink inflorescences and dark leaves;
"Lilacina" - lilac-pink hydrangea with a unique feather-like shape of the petals with a snow-white edge;
Mini Penny - pale pink hydrangea with bright leaves and very dense inflorescences;
raspberry red with a light center frost-resistant variety Maltisse;
"Bouquet Rose" - It is not in vain that it has become one of the most common varieties up to 1 m high with very large inflorescences of pink or blue color and a squat, “flattened” form of bush.

The best series of varieties of large-leaved hydrangeas for the middle lane

In addition to certain varieties of hydrangea, the series combining plants with similar characteristics, type of inflorescences or color change are especially popular. Representatives of certain series are better than other plants for cultivation in regions with harsh winters or boast particularly spectacular colors. Four groups of frost-resistant varieties belong to such series.

You & me - A series of varieties of hydrangea, among which are amazingly hardy plants. Due to their maintainability, they are perfect for growing in the middle lane, provided standard shelter. A common feature of plants is simple care, compact dense bushes, large spherical inflorescences and a general neat appearance. But the main advantage is a long and very plentiful flowering, during which there is a change in different shades of color.

The best varieties of the You & Me series include:

"Love" - one of the most delicate repairing varieties of garden hydrangea; at a meter height, the variety conquers with dark foliage up to 15 cm long and a thick spherical crown, delicate rosette "double" flowers with a blurry pink or purple color, depending on the acidity of the soil; the variety blooms from mid-June until the advent of frost;
pink variety "Symphony";
"Expression" - meter variety with pink or lilac-blue color similar to water lily flowers (cream at the beginning of blooming), dark foliage and early flowering beginning in June;
"Passion" - bright pink, combining several shades of a variety of hydrangea with spherical inflorescences;
soft pink grade "Emotion";
"Forever" - a variety with a rounded dense bush and terry pink flowers in dense inflorescences that change tone depending on the soil reaction;
"Together" - a variety of hydrangea with densely terry flowers in openwork, very beautiful dense inflorescences, the color of which can vary from light green to pink, purple and blue;
"Eternity" with rose-like light pale pink flowers;
"Romance" - terry lilac-pink variety with pointed petals, giving the flowers a resemblance to asterisks.

Forever & ever - a series of winter-hardy hydrangeas, part of the plants in which repeats the species of the previous series. Variability of colors, terry, density of shields and dark leaves are combined with dense squat bushes of perfectly round shape. The best varieties of this series include:

"White Ball" with dense inflorescences similar to white balls;
"Blue Heaven" –One of the most abundant hydrangeas, offering to admire the transitions from lilac to blue and ultramarine colors on appropriate soil;
"Peppermint" - a charming hydrangea variety blooming in July and surprising the beauty of flat inflorescences with a diameter of up to 25 cm; white petals are decorated with delicate pastel pink, purple or blue strokes, which give the plant uneven mottling; this hydrangea appears to be a strikingly large-flowered variety; the beauty of flowering is emphasized by the glossy sheen of leaves;
"Fantasia" - a repairing variety with a unique multicolor from light green to bright green, red, bloody and raspberry, and the mottled ripples change unevenly to ever brighter shades;
"Red Sensation" - a compact cultivar of hydrangea with a dazzling red color of spherical inflorescences, changing to saturated burgundy and cream colors after drying.

Hovaria - A series of large-leaved hydrangeas of repairing varieties, which is considered one of the most resistant to frost and disease. This series is characterized by stunning combinations of pink-red and light green colors, as well as a change in the appearance of the shrub from season to season.

The best varieties of hydrangeas in this series include:

"Sweet Fantasy" - A powerful variety with a dense bush and an amazing motley color of flowers, offering to admire maroon splashes and dashes on a pale pink background;
Love You Kiss - One of the unique varieties, flaunting amazing white flowers with bright pink ruffles;
"Hopcorn" - a hydrangea variety with dense inflorescences, round flower petals in which cause associations with popcorn; the color is uneven, light green at the beginning of the blossoming of inflorescences is replaced by dark shades of pink, purple and violet;
"Hobella" - a variety that changes color from pink to light green, and then to red;
"Ripple" - a large enough, up to 2 m high with reliable shelter, hydrangea cultivar with very strong shoots and spherical inflorescences; the burgundy shade of dark leaves is combined with the unique carmine pink and the color of the flowers that are very densely blurred into the white center.

A particularly popular series of gardeners enjoys us. Magical. Of course, most of all large-leaved hydrangeas of the varieties assigned to this series are loved for their colors, but they are also famous for their unpretentiousness. All varieties of the series are united by a varied palette of colors, but necessarily including light green in one of the flowering stages.

White, salmon, pink, lilac, lilac, red, different shades of green, the varieties conquer with their multicolor and extraordinary picturesqueness. It is thanks to the constant play of colors that the hydrangeas of this series are also called chameleons.

The best varieties of this series include: fawn pink "Ocean"light green pink "Amethyst"light green cream "Pearl"carmine Sapphire, white and light green "Noblesse", pink-blue hydrangea "Revolution", white and light green "Wings"pink-orange-lime "Coral"light green carmine "Jade", black-stemmed with lemon first, and then snow-white color of flowers "Black Pearl", fawn and cream grade "Bride"cream pink "Topaz", lime and lemon "Emerald"lime green pink with round petals grade "Robin"sunny green "Summergreen"ruby red "Ruby Red"white red "Red harlequin"hot pink "Garnet"red green Greenfire. Before the name of the variety is always the name of the series - Magic or Mag.