Hydrangea Strawberry Sundae®

What a treat! With Strawberry Sundae® Hydrangea, you get big blooms on a compact shrub. Add the fact that these flowers open lime-green, then quickly turn creamy white, soft pink, and finally darkest red, and you have the makings of a showstopping garden or container display. Welcome Strawberry Sundae®, a compact, heavy-blooming, easy-care hydrangea that thrives right through the coldest parts of Zone 4.

The flowers completely steal the show on Strawberry Sundae® Hydrangea. Beginning in early summer, long, thick, pointed wands begin arising, packed with florets. On average, you can expect these bloom stalks to reach 7 inches long and, at the wide base, fully 5 inches in diameter. And they keep coming for several months, so you'll see all flower colors present at the same time. Cut all you like for fresh or dried bouquets, but save a few for garden enjoyment too. After all, the bees and butterflies need a landing pad.

This well-branched, vigorous little hydrangea stands just 4 to 5 feet tall and not quite as wide, a good size for the foundation or driveway planting as well as the partly shaded border. You could even put it in a large container—it's that compact. Well-branched, rounded, and bushy, it makes a huge impression in not much space, with large, bright green, toothy leaves that keep it handsome long before and after bloom time.

Strawberry Sundae® is a paniculata hydrangea, the type known as PeeGee. It is among the cold-hardiest of all, and also very tolerant of urban pollution. Of course, like all hydrangeas, it loves moisture (that "hydra" in the name is the tip-off), so plant it in good, continuously moist garden soil, or water the container regularly. Untroubled by pests and diseases, it is among the easiest of shrubs to grow. Give it full sunshine only in the northern edge of its hardiness range, opting for dappled or afternoon shade farther south and west.

Strawberry Sundae® comes to us from French breeder Jean Renault. Long-blooming, ever-changing, and easy to grow—you just can't beat PeeGees.

This variety is slower to come out of dormancy compared to other Hydrangea varieties. Leaves will begin to show in late spring-early summer.