Oak-leaf Hydrangea
Hydrangea quercifolia
… for four-seasons of beauty
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Common Name: Oak-leaf Hydrangea
Latin Name: Hydrangea quercifolia
Design Tip: Use as a dramatic under-story shrub in the woodland garden or as a specimen fronting evergreens in a formal grouping or blooming hedgerow.
Size and Form: The deciduous mounding shrub grows six to eight feet tall. Dense branches arch downwards with the weight of blooms.
Flowers: Masses of six to nine inch conical bloom heads open in May. In 4 to 6 weeks, they acquire a rosy pink tinge, which turns tan by late summer, falling in winter. Collect the bloom heads when pink, for long-lasting dried flowers. The flower-producing stem tips may be damaged at temperatures below 10° F.
Foliage: New leaf buds appear as silvery spires in spring, opening into glistening lime green leaflets that mature into broad, dark green lobed leaves with silver furry undersides. They turn brilliant colors of red, bronze, gold and maroon in fall, depending on the weather conditions. The bark of mature stems and graceful branches shed a paper-like tissue in winter, revealing a new cinnamon-colored bark for yet another seasonal interest.
Soil: A well-drained moisture-retentive earth is essential. It is native to acidic lands, but will acclimate to a humus-enriched alkaline terrain. Mature plants are drought tolerant, but high-summer irrigation ensures optimum performance.
Light Exposure: An ideal situation provides 3 to 4 hours of morning sun followed by shade, but all-day shade will suffice.
Hardiness: Oak-leaf hydrangea is hardy in USDA Zones: 5-9.
Grooming: To maintain a convenient size, annual pruning should be done when the blooms begin to turn pink, just as new growths sprout at leaf joints. Tips of the new growths will produce the next year's blooms. An early spring or winter pruning will destroy the blooming tips. In a naturalized planting, only dead, broken or crossed branches need be pruned out.
Propagation: In ideal conditions, a mature plant produces new plantlets from underground stolons, which can be relocated to mature elsewhere. To propagate from cuttings, take softwood tips of non-flowering shoots after the plant's flowers fade to pink.
Snippets: Native to southeastern United States, it is the official state wildflower of Alabama. It was first identified in the 1770s and named for the oak-like (querci) leaf (folia). For smaller gardens, there is a dwarf version sold as Hydrangea quercifolia 'Pee Wee', that matures at a height of 4 feet and 3 feet wide.
Cultivated, photographed and written by
Maggie Ross McNeely in Fort Worth, Texas
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