About this cultivar:

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ is one of the loveliest hydrangeas. It has huge globes of tightly packed, creamy white bracts that look like giant snowballs in late summer fading to pale lime in autumn – when the dark green, pointed leaves turn soft yellow. Popular with flower arrangements and dried flowers – it is often grown in fields for the cut-flower industry.At Ballyrobert we have it in a few places in our garden but the most popular site is beside an archway – people always stop to look.

• Position:Full sun, partial shade
• Soil:Almost any soil,grows well in Ballyrobert
• Flowers: June, July, August
• Other features:Grows well in Ballyrobert
• Hardiness:Fully hardy – grows well in Ballyrobert!
• Habit: Clump forming, bushy
• Foliage:Deciduous
• Height:120 – 180 cm (4 – 6 ft)
• Spread:120 – 180 cm (4 – 6 ft)
• Time to full growth:2 to 5 years
• Plant type: Herbaceous Perennial
• Colour: Green, white
• Goes well with:–

About this genus:

Hydrangea (hy-dran-je-a) get its name from the Greek hydor, water, and aggeion, a vessel, or vase, in reference to the shape of the seed capsule.Itis a classic garden plant. The genus Hydrangea contains about 75 species of shrubs, trees and woody vines, along with hundreds of named cultivars. Hydrangeas are grown primarily for their large flower clusters that vary in shape from flat lacecaps, to long panicles, and large, round mopheads.

At Ballyrobert we only really grow cultivars from the speciespaniculata (pointed panciles of flowers) and arborescen (mopheads of flowers).You may read lots of different things aboutpruningpaniculatacultivars. We findthe best thing to do is shear them back hard to about three feet from ground level in March (spring) each year. For the mop-headedHydrangeaarborescen cultivars we cut them back furtherto ground level each March.Strange, as the name (arborescen means ‘tree like’) would imply you leave them alone…..

Hydrangeas grow best insun or partial shade and are not too fussy regarding soil (as long as it isn’textreme). We typically grow them in mixed borders, and in our garden at Ballyrobert we have them almost everywhere!