Endless Summer® Hydrangea

Every garden has shady areas, they are found on the north side of a home, beneath or in the shadow of trees. Endless Summer Hydrangea is the ideal plant for shady areas. It forms a dense mound of large leaves topped with enormous rounded heads of beautiful pink or blue flowers all summer and into the fall. It can be grown as a single plant in any shady border, but a long border of Endless Summer Hydrangea along a shady wall or driveway, in front of trees or along a shady path is a beautiful and easy way to create an atmosphere of real calm and peace.

Endless Summer Hydrangea can grow up to 3 feet a year once established, which means that it will form a good-sized plant even in colder areas. It is a tough plant, resistant to pests and having few if any diseases. It is normally not eaten by deer. Hydrangeas do need water and are not drought tolerant so they should not be planted in dry places, or in hot sunny spots. Some morning sun is beneficial but not necessary, but the hot afternoon sun will cause all hydrangeas to wilt.

Growing Endless Summer Hydrangeas

Endless Summer Hydrangea grows into a shrub about 3 to 5 feet tall, and as much across. The warmer the area you live in, the taller the plant will become. It has rounded deep-green leaves 8 or more inches long, which clothe the plant right to the ground. In summer it is covered in huge balls of flowers which last and last. With Endless Summer Hydrangea you will need no other plants around it, as it will be interesting all season long.

Hardiness

Endless Summer Hydrangea is hardy from zone 4 to zone 9, so now everyone across America except for the tip of Florida and the very coldest northern parts of the country can grow these beautiful plants. In zones 4 and 5 you should put mulch around the base of the plants at the end of November. This should be 4 to 6 inches deep and can be wood chips, bark or fresh leaves. Remove this mulch in the spring when the ground has thawed and once the weather warms you will see new shoots coming from the base of your plant.

Around the same time that you remove the mulch, you should cut off any dead wood, and by mid-summer you will have blooms on your Endless Summer Hydrangea. In zones 6 to 9 no mulch is needed – just prune a little in spring back to fat, healthy buds. Not only will you get flowers in summer, but a whole crop of new flowers will be produced in early fall – extending the season by up to 12 weeks.

Flower Color

Depending on your soil, Endless Summer will have blue or pink flowers. To change the color from blue to pink, sprinkle garden lime around the plants in spring. To change pink to blue, use aluminium sulfate. Mix 1 tbsp. in a gallon of water and put this around your plants every few weeks. What an amazing thing to be able to do.

Planting and Initial Care

Endless Summer Hydrangea should be planted 3 feet apart, alone, in a group, or to make an informal hedge in your garden. So dig a hole or a trench, two or three times wider than the pot and add plenty of organic material, like peat-moss, compost, rotted leaves or rotted manure to the soil. Place your plants in the hole or trench, replace most of the soil and firm it well down. Then water thoroughly and when the water has drained away replace the rest of the soil, being careful not to cover the roots with any extra soil. Keep well watered and apply mulch each spring to retain moisture.

History and Origins of the Endless Summer Hydrangea

Endless Summer Hydrangea is a selected form of the Mophead Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), which originated in China and Japan. These plants have been popular for many decades for their huge, beautiful flowers. However up until now they could only be grown in warmer areas with mild winters – certainly not colder than zone 6. So if you lived in a colder area you could only look in envy at those gorgeous hydrangeas you saw further south – but that has now all changed.

The famous plant expert Dr. Michael A. Dirr was visiting a nursery in Minnesota in 1998. He saw a plant that caught his eye and after testing named it ‘Endless Summer’. This plant produced its flowers on the ends of new shoots, instead of from the sides of older shoots, as other hydrangeas do. This is the secret to its ability to flower on new shoots from the ground, and to keep flowering right into fall.

Buying Endless Summer Hydrangeas at The Tree Center

Endless Summer Hydrangea is such a special plant that only the exact plant will have the right colors and growth habits. So it must be produced directly from plants absolutely known to be this variety. Our Endless Summer Hydrangeas are grown the correct way, from branch cuttings of these known plants. That way every plant is identical to the original, which is particularly important to produce a uniform result when planted in a row. However, these take longer to produce, so avoid cheaper, plants that will only be a disappointment.

We sell only trees that are true to the original form and we have a wide range of sizes to give you the best plant for your purpose. With that said, we are constantly renewing our stock so customers always get fresh, healthy plants – so supplies of this tree may be limited. To avoid disappointment order now. Also make sure to browse our entire collection of hydrangeas for more color variety.