A bigleaf hydrangea from Bloomin' Easy®, Frill Ride™ is a woody deciduous shrub offering year-round interest. A classic type, creating a season-long floral display, it blooms and reblooms on old wood beginning in late spring through summer. The large mophead clusters of uniquely ruffled dark pink/red florets are held aloft fleshy, dark green foliage on long, strong stems. The fun and frilly flowers are long lasting and make excellent cuts for fresh and dried arrangements.
After the first frost, the flower clusters turn tan to caramel, and along with the shredding and peeling papery brown bark on mature plants that reveals glimpses of the underlying cinnamon hue of stems and branches, they add a textural element to the winter garden, especially pleasing in a snowy landscape. The hollow stems also provide nesting habitats for bees.
With cain-like growth, this multistemmed, suckering shrub has a mounded habit and a rapid growth rate. The shrub's compact size is perfect for a container, but it is also a great specimen, bed, and border plant.
Easy to grow and maintain, hydrangea prefers some morning sun and afternoon shade; rich, well-draining soil; and plenty of water. A shade-loving shrub, it can tolerate more sun if the soil is kept consistently moist, but Frill Ride is bred to be especially heat tolerant.
Hydrangea macrophylla change colors with the pH of the soil, turning pink in alkaline soil and blue in acid soils.
