Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangea

Ruby Slippers is the oakleaf hydrangea that changes color as the season goes. Hydrangea quercifolia 'Ruby Slippers' opens white in early summer, shifts to pink within a week or two, and deepens to a wine red that holds into fall, so a single shrub carries several shades at once. It grows 3 to 4 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide in part shade, hardy from Zone 5 through Zone 9, and reaches full size in three or four seasons.

The flower panicles are upright and dense, held on stems stiff enough that they do not flop when wet, which is the failing of most oakleaf hydrangeas. This one was bred at the U.S. National Arboretum specifically for compact size and sturdy stems.

The foliage is the second reason to grow it. Deeply lobed and oak-shaped, dark green through summer, turning mahogany red in fall and holding late. The bark on older stems peels in cinnamon strips, which gives it something to look at in winter after the leaves drop.

Oakleaf hydrangea is native to the Southeast and takes more sun and more drought than the bigleaf types once established, though it wants steady moisture the first year or two. It blooms on old wood, so the flower buds form the previous summer. The small fertile flowers tucked under the showy ones draw bees through the bloom season.