Hydrangea Torch™ Panicle Hydrangea

A Bloomin' Easy® variety, Torch™ is a woody deciduous shrub offering year-round interest. This sturdy panicle hydrangea has a moderate growth rate, reaching 4 to 5 feet tall and wide, and puts on a lovely floral display in your garden, Blooming on new wood, beginning early in summer. Its compact panicles contain both sterile and fertile florets, which emerge white but age to bright rosy red in autumn. The flower clusters sit atop large, serrate, dark green leaves on strong, rounded stems, making long-lasting cut flowers for fresh and dried bouquets. In the garden, their faint sweet fragrance attracts pollinators, including bees and butterflies during the season. After the first frost, flower clusters turn tan to caramel, adding a textural element to the winter garden. The hollow stems also provide nesting habitats for bees.

Panicle hydrangeas are tough, cold hardy, and one of the easiest hydrangeas to grow. Upright to broadly upright and multi-stemmed, the shrub makes an excellent specimen but is stunning when planted in groups as a privacy screen or shrub border.

Torch hydrangea grows and flowers best with 6 or more hours of full sun in locations with rich, loamy, moist, well-draining soil, but it's highly adaptable to a wide range of conditions and soils, including alkaline and clay soils. Cut back the plant by 1/3 its total height each spring, just as the new growth begins to emerge, to encourage abundant flowering. Panicle hydrangeas are generally more sun and drought tolerant than other hydrangeas. Torch was bred to be especially heat tolerant too.

Discover tips to ensure your hydrangeas thrive, from soil preparation to pruning techniques, by following our expert advice on the Hydrangea Planting and General Care Guide and the How to Prune Hydrangea Plants blog.