Deciding which hydrangea varieties are best for your garden can be mind-boggling. The hydrangea is America’s most popular deciduous shrub and comes in a dizzying range of shapes and tones. Their bold summer blooms (spanning delicate lacecaps and generous mopheads) come in all kinds of reds, purples, pinks, creams, greens and whites. These attractive flowering shrubs create dynamic texture even in compact beds and borders, and can even be cultivated in large containers.
Many types of hydrangea combine a tolerant and adaptable nature with astonishing summer and fall colors. Capable of growing in hardiness zones USDA Z3-5, many have flowers that change color as they mature and become more vivid at the end of the season. When you grow hydrangeas, you will find that several varieties change color according to the lime content of the soil in which they grow. They become more blue in acid (lime-free) soils and pink in alkaline (limey) soils.
