I love this hydrangea, it has delightful almost furry leaves and these striking purplish flowers. Paired here with hydrangea quercifolia, it provides a big show at this time of year with large interesting leaves and flowers in mid summer. These two only really work if allowed to get quite large, and neither are neat and tidy so they are best given plenty of space to grow. Filling a shady spot nicely, with the quercifolia having good autumn colour on the leaf, these are a great addition to the bulk and texture of a garden- this is the bit that many gardens are really short of. The rather dark leaf is in my view best paired with something a little lighter and brighter (here a mix of lime green and purple berberis in a loose hedge). They do prefer it moist, and a good mulch helps a lot with this.
Advertisements