Plant Care Library

Other Names:  French Hydrangea, Bigleaf Hydrangea

Description:

Clusters of stunning blooms that are red, with dramatic streaks of hot pink through the petals; a compact plant that is awash in color all summer; purplish color in acidic soil; a sensational ornamental shrub for the garden or border

Ornamental Features

Grateful Red Hydrangea features showy clusters of red flowers with hot pink overtones at the ends of the branches from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has forest green deciduous foliage. The glossy pointy leaves turn an outstanding burgundy in the fall.

Landscape Attributes

Grateful Red Hydrangea is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a mounded form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Grateful Red Hydrangea is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Grateful Red Hydrangea will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This shrub should be grown in a location with partial shade and which is shaded from the hot afternoon sun. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for alkaline soils. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in both summer and winter to conserve soil moisture and protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Grateful Red Hydrangea makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.