Tuff Stuff Top Fun® Mountain Hydrangea

Tuff Stuff Top Fun is a mountain hydrangea, Hydrangea serrata, which is the hardier cousin of the bigleaf types and the reason this one flowers in gardens where mopheads get frozen out. It stays 2 to 3 feet tall and wide in part sun to part shade, hardy from Zone 4 through Zone 9, and reaches full size in two or three seasons.

The flowers are lacecaps, a ring of showy florets around an open fertile center, in a mix of pink, blue, and purple depending on your soil. Bloom starts in early summer and reblooms through fall on new growth, so the plant keeps producing after the first flush finishes.

Mountain hydrangeas carry smaller, tougher leaves and set flower buds that survive cold better than bigleaf buds do. That is what makes this group worth knowing about if you have lost mopheads to a late frost. Bees come to the fertile centers through the bloom.

The color of the blooms depends on your soil. Acidic soil gives blue and purple tones, neutral to alkaline gives pink, and many gardens land somewhere in between so a single plant carries several shades. Give it morning sun with afternoon shade and consistent moisture. Avoid hard spring pruning, since it flowers on old wood as well as new.