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Hydrangea Strawberry Sundae™

Hydrangea Strawberry Sundae™

Hydrangea paniculata 'RENsun' 25,438

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Item # 36242

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It's an irresistible combination: big blooms on a compact shrub. Add the fact that these particular flowers open lime-green, then quickly turn creamy white, soft pink, and finally darkest red, and you have the makings of a showstopping garden or container display. Welcome Strawberry Sundae™, a compact, heavy-blooming, easy-care PeeGee Hydrangea!

Strawberry Sundae™ reaches just 4 to 5 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide, compact enough for a large container. It is very dense and bushy, with handsome toothed leaves of bright green below the blooms.

But the flowers completely steal the show on this beauty. Beginning in early summer, long, thick, pointed wands begin arising, packed with florets. They keep coming for several months, so you'll see all flower colors present at the same time on the shrub. Cut all you like for fresh or dried bouquets, but save a few for garden enjoyment too. Magnificent!

This hydrangea is a PeeGee type, one of the cold-hardiest of all. Given moist garden or potting soil, it will grow readily and bloom for many years in border or container. Site it in full sunshine in northern climates, or a bit of dappled or partial shade in southern and western areas.

You will love this French introduction from breeder Jean Renault. So much flower power in such a compact package! Enjoy ever-changing, always-beautiful Strawberry Sundae™ in your landscape. Zones 4-8.

Hydrangea Incrediball Following just a few simple growing tips for hydrangea will produce healthy plants with fluffy colorful blooms year after year.

Planting Your Hydrangea

Planting your hydrangeas in early spring or in the fall is ideal. When you are planting a hydrangea, remember that the blooms and stems must be protected from strong winds and the hot afternoon sun. Avoid planting in open areas where strong winds could break stems. Planting on the eastern side of a building ensures that, in the afternoon, when the sun is at its hottest, your plants are in the shade.
Make sure your plant has good drainage. If the soil is too wet, the roots might rot, and the plant will die. Incorporate a lot of organic matter and an all-purpose slow-release fertilizer into the soil to give your hydrangea a strong start.

General Hydrangea Care

  • If you plant them in the summer, they need a lot more water in the beginning to establish the root system.
  • Most varieties thrive in full sun to part shade, as long as they are planted in moist, rich soil.
  • Water deeply once a week, and maybe more, if the weather is particularly hot or dry.
  • Hydrangea fertilization needs vary greatly, depending on your intended bloom color. Certain elements of the fertilizer affect the soil pH, which is a major determinant of bloom color in the pink/blue hydrangea varieties.
Hydrangeas can live for many years without ever needing to be pruned, but if your shrubs grow out of bounds or lose flowering vigor, then there are some essential pruning guidelines you must follow to ensure bountiful blooms the next year!

Hydrangea macrophylla and H. quercifolia These generally bloom on old wood and require little pruning. Prune spent blooms immediately after flowering (midsummer), or remove only dead, damaged or unsightly wood.
Hydrangea Endless Summer® Hydrangea macrophylla (Bigleaf, Mophead, or Lacecap Hydrangeas)
These Hydrangeas begin blooming in early to midsummer and can continue until summer's end, so they set their bloom buds during late summer or early fall. When pruning mopheads, you have two options, and will probably end up doing a combination of both:
  1. Cut back the flowering shoots to the next bud, thus giving the branches a trim that removes the spent blooms without damaging the buds that will bloom next year. Do this right after flowering, but before midsummer.
  2. On older shrubs that have lost flowering vigor, cut up to a third of entire stems at the base in late winter to improve flowering vigor. Ideally, you should cut the oldest stems, leaving younger mature stems that are loaded with buds for next year, but sometimes you have a lopsided or crowded Hydrangea that must be pruned to maintain a pleasing shape. The main purpose of cutting off entire stems is to do away with elderly or poorly flowering parts of the shrub, thus letting in more air and light AND encouraging the growth of healthy new branches.In mild climates that may experience warm spells in winter, be careful of the urge to get out in the garden and start pruning before late winter. If you prune too early, you could encourage dormant buds to break, leaving tender growth susceptible to frost and freeze damage.
Exception: If you have a reblooming variety such as Penny Mac that flowers on new wood as well as old wood, you'll want to prune a little every year just to keep the new wood coming.
Hydrangea quercifolia 'Pee Wee' Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf Hydrangea)
You can get away without pruning Oakleaf Hydrageas at all, but if you want to keep them well-shaped, cut dead stems back at the base in late winter or early spring.
Hydrangea arborescens and H. paniculata
These shrubs bloom on new wood and actually produce larger blooms if cut back to the ground in late winter.
Hydrangea arborescens (Smooth Hydrangea)
This is one of the easiest Hydrangeas to prune. Because it blooms only on new wood, you can just cut it back to the ground in late winter, before any new buds appear. If you experience some flopping of flowering branches, then leave a framework of old growth to help support the branches by only cutting stems back to 2 feet from the ground.
Hydrangea paniculata Pinky Winky™ Hydrangea paniculata (Pee Gee or Panicle Hydrangeas)
Prune this Hydrangea in late winter to keep the plants from becoming overgrown and encourage more new growth, more flower buds, and larger blooms. You can remove dead flowers, as soon as they become unattractive and clean up the overall shape of the plant.
Hydrangea petiolaris
Hydrangea petiolaris Hydrangea petiolaris (Climbing Hydrangea)
Climbing Hydrangea requires little to no pruning, but if you need to trim it to keep it in bounds, you should prune it just after flowering. Cut back last year's flower shoots to 1 to 2 inches and pruning out shoots that fail to cling or have pulled away from their support.
Remember, Hydrangeas are shade tolerant, but they do require adequate sunlight and irrigation to bloom properly. In northern climates and coastal areas, Hydrangeas will grow beautifully in full sun, but in warmer southern areas, a location in part shade where the shrub receives full to partial morning sun with protection from harsh afternoon sun is ideal. Placed in the right location, given ample moisture, and pruned using the guidelines above, your Hydrangeas will be an abundant source of gorgeous blooms long into the future.


Planting:

Space according to ultimate size. Choose a good garden soil, high in organic matter that will help keep ample moisture available to the roots. The location should be sunny or partly shaded, the latter being preferable in dry areas.

If the pH of your soil is too high (alkaline), it can be reduced (made more acidic) by the addition of one tablespoon or more of Aluminum Sulfate per plant – this will make your flowers a deeper blue.


Maintenance:

An annual mulch of compost is beneficial. In very cold or exposed locations, “hill” up the soil and mulch the base of the plant with pine needles or leaves. Most species require little pruning except the removal of dead flower heads after blooming or in early spring.

For H. arborescens, prune the previous year’s flowering wood to the ground in early spring. For H. macrophylla (H. hortensis) and H. serrata, thin out two- or threeyear- old flowering shoots at ground level to promote vigorous new growth. H.petiolaris should be pruned only for aesthetics.


Zones:

Zones various

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Tips for gardening in particularly hot, dry climates:


1. Water with a drip system whenever possible – soak the bed slowly and thoroughly to a depth of 10" to 12".

2. Watering deeply every 3 to 5 days is preferable to a shallow daily watering.

3. Water in the early morning, so foliage has time to dry.

4. Add a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch or similar material to aid in water retention and help keep the roots cool during hot weather.