Hydrangea Ideas, Tips & Guides

Making new plants from cuttings gathered in your own garden is thrilling.

Today we’re visiting with Jill Hammond.

Isn’t every plant great in a group? Well, the answer is no. Some plants are too vigorous in their growth habits to share the stage, while others are better if put on a pedestal all their own (i.e. the focal point plants of the landscape). Today’s episode we talk about plants that are great in masses—that is to say—in groups of three or more. We have options for shade, choices for sun, and selections for those in-between exposures situations. We’ll also feature some great plants that we’ve seen grouped to perfection in gardens featured in Fine Gardening. And you don’t have to be a millionaire to group plants. Many of our suggestions are easily divided after just a year or two, providing you with multiple plants for the price of just one.

You may have heard the word nativars and wondered what they are, but I’ll bet you are already growing a rather impressive list of nativars in your garden. Simply said, nativars are just named selections of native plants. Some nativars might be hybrids made from two selections within the same species, or they could be naturally occurring varieties that someone isolated in the field and decided to propagate. Regardless of their origin, nativars generally are selected because they offer one or more desirable characteristics in color, form, or vigor that make them stand out from the rest of their species in a wild population.

The fall season offers unique opportunities for gardeners, especially in America, where diverse climates exist. When it comes to growing plants from cuttings in the fall, there are specific varieties that tend to excel. Here’s a comprehensive guide detailing your best choices and Plants to Grow from Cuttings in Fall!

Meet Pistachio Hydrangea, a vibrant showstopper that transforms any garden into surreal colors. Its flowers carry a beautiful combination of colors, creating a spectacle from late spring to early fall.

It is such a gardening triumph to put together a few plants that play nicely together and create a memorable vignette to mark the season. In this episode, Danielle, Carol, and guest Susan Morrison will talk about some plant combinations that look great as the season winds down. Listen in and get inspired to add more winning teams to your late season lineup next year.

A few weeks ago, frequent GPOD contributor Cherry Ong took us along on her visit to Bellevue Botanical Garden in Bellevue, Washington (GPOD on the Road: Bellevue Botanical Garden) but she sent too many photos to share that day, so we’re going back today to see some more of the beautiful images of this inspiring public garden.

Towering cordylines, groves of tree ferns, hydrangeas weighed down by pink and blue flowers, spires of echiums… these are the plants that many of us associate with Cornwall. England’s most south-westerly county is bathed by the beneficent Gulf Stream, so gardens are rarely troubled by hard frosts, enabling a far wider range of tender and borderline hardy plants to be grown.

Tired of planting annual vines every spring only to watch them wither away come fall? Fear not, dear gardener! We’ve compiled a list of the most beautiful Perennial Vinesthat will keep coming back year after year, no matter what Mother Nature throws their way!

We’re nearing our 150th episode mark and for us, that has meant a lot of plants discussed. But it’s also meant a lot of great guest appearances. As you know, each episode we ask an expert from the field of horticulture to lend us their brains and weigh-in on some great plant choices for the topic at hand. We’ve had guests who made us laugh, think twice about a much-maligned perennial, or even come to realize that there are far better options out there for our gardens. Who was our funniest guest? The one that made us seriously reconsider our planting choices? Or the one who made us grip the steering wheel with white knuckles (yes—that did actually happen)? Tune in now to find out and listen to our favorite guest segments.

Today we’re in Nella’s Michigan garden.

Friend of the GPOD Cherry Ong is taking us along today to visit Bellevue Botanical Garden in Bellevue, Washington.

Pruning hydrangeas improves their shape, encourages new flowers, and increases the size of the blooms.

Today we’re visiting with Helaine McDermott from western Connecticut.

Today’s photos are from Bill Ziebarth.

Wendy is sharing her beautiful garden with us today. We’ve visited her stunning garden before (Beauty From Wendy’s Garden).

Fall is quickly approaching and if you're looking for creative ways to transform your home, so that it's ready for the season, you won't want to miss out on these designer-approved tips.

Q: I bought some beautiful blue mophead hydrangeas last year that I planted in my garden, but I was really disappointed to discover that the plant’s flowers are pink this year instead of blue, and there aren’t very many of them. What’s happened? Is there any way for me to fix it? FL, Co Laois

Slugs and snails can wreak havoc in the garden, demolishing seedlings and decimating the leaves of larger plants such as hostas. While slug pellets are an effective deterrent, those containing metaldehyde can harm hedgehogs and other wildlife, while other forms of slug control can be time consuming and aren’t guaranteed to work.

Shrubs growing in shade perform a variety of functions – from serving as a leafy foil to other plants, to lighting up dark areas with bright flowers or impressing with dramatic foliage. Small or low-growing shrubs can even be used for ground cover.

Explore the remarkable diversity of Chicago Native Plants, perfectly suited to grow in the city’s unique climate and soil. Discover the ideal selection to create a thriving, sustainable garden.

My name is Melina. Welcome to my Zone 8a garden in the Seattle area. It has been a few years since I have shared photos of my garden with you all (A Love/Hate Relationship With the End of the Season), so it’s nice to have you back to have a peek around. Much has changed over the past couple of years, and slowly my grass is disappearing as my annual “edging” project turns into another foot (or two) of garden border. (The shovel just slipped, LOL.) Next year I have plans to take out some larger sections for dahlias and berry beds, but here is where it sits right now. I have a collector’s garden, which means I love plants but don’t have enough space to plant three or five of many things. So instead you will find a lot of one-offs jammed together in the borders. Like many, I found my way to the garden through the need for peace and healing. What started as a “hobby” has quickly turned into an obsession that I hope to parlay into a career one day. For now, though, I will keep experimenting in this lovely space—learning and growing through dirty hands, piles of garden magazines, and those of you on social media willing to share your spaces and lessons learned. The gardening community is a wonderful one, and I am glad to be a part of it.

I have killed, and almost killed, several plants since I last wrote about my garden. It was to be expected, really. Everything was going far too well. First, the hydrangea got scorched when I was on holidays, then the centaurea croaked for no apparent reason, and the aquilegia stopped flowering.

Around here we’re not fans of the f-word. No, not that f-word. We’re talking about FALL. In our minds that cooler weather is still a long way off, so we’ve decided to celebrate the dog days of summer by talking about plants that really put on a show in August. When much of the garden is looking tired and bedraggled, these plants add a colorful punch to the scene. Some unexpected perennials and shrubs dominate our lists and for those who have been demanding it—Peter is back with his take on the end of summer. In true Peter fashion though, he’ll be discussing ice cream and…the solar system? Well, his segment will be entertaining, that’s for sure.

I’ve been asked many times, “What’s a great plant for a small space?” As land becomes more expensive and first-time home buyers are starting out, there are lots of properties that consist mainly of small outdoor spaces that need to be filled with size-appropriate plants. People are often discouraged and think they can’t have a beautiful garden because of limited space. But a small space is often the perfect place to start gardening. For those of us with larger overall landscapes, there is often an undersized hole in a bed that needs to be filled but we can’t think of something that will work. The following are a few great choices for those who are looking to start a garden on a limited footprint or to fill a tight spot within a larger framework.

Kindra Clineff

Many UK homeowners nowadays have abandoned the idea of gardening their street-facing green space, whether they have given a priority to their car parking needs or have just decided on tending to a low-maintenance front lawn. Their focus is often placed on the backyard, where they can enjoy a green retreat in privacy.

It’s that time of year again! The much-anticipated listener question and answer episode. Carol and Danielle look forward to this special episode (sometimes TWO episodes) because it allows them to offer real-life advice for the plant and garden design issues that are troubling all of you out there in the podcast universe. This time, we got a slew of great questions via email and social media and we’re going to do our best to get through as many as possible. The inquiries included advice on planting under trees, attracting hummingbirds, and info about what garden tasks we’re tackling during the dog days of summer. Tune in to see if we fielded your question, or if someone else’s problem spot is something you can relate to.

Flowering shrubs can grace your garden, adding color, interest and sometimes fragrance to the home landscape. For the biggest, showiest flowers, you’ll also need to take into account the sun exposure of the garden site. But never fear, there are flowering shrubs for landscaping that like sun and others that like shade.

Red, White and Blue the patriotic colours of the Hydrangea are augmented by pinks and purples like H. Ayeshia above as a variation on those themes. Flowering from mid-summer these shrubs give a magnificent display with very little effort. Did you see Hydrangea maritima on seaside holidays in large displays of sugary pink and sometimes blue.

The leaves of this Hydragea Aspera are one of its key features. As with other Aspera subspecies the branches and leaves are ‘strigose’ which botanically means ‘beset with appressed straight and stiff hairs’ that means rough and furry to me.

I like the idea of a climbing hydrangea more than the actual experience. Good specimens seem to produce a profusion of frothy, white blossoms particularly when grown by someone else.

A little used gardening term is ‘Remonant’, said of a plant flowering more than once in a season.

Trailing plants are a great addition to any garden as they provide visual interest throughout the year. In this article, we’ll explore the Best Evergreen Vines for Year-Round Interest, including their characteristics, growing requirements, and unique features.