Double-flowered white panicles 12 to 14 inches long open on this oakleaf hydrangea in summer and age to a mix of rose-red, olive green and cream. Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowcicle' grows 4 to 6 feet tall and wide in part shade, hardy from Zone 6 through Zone 9.
Doubled florets give each panicle a fuller, heavier look than a single-flowered oakleaf, and the stems are stiff enough to carry them upright. The aged flowers stay on the plant into fall alongside deep wine and burnt orange leaves.
Oakleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia, is native to the southeastern United States, where it grows wild along woodland edges. The leaves are deeply lobed like an oak's, large and coarse-textured, and they color late in fall, often holding into early winter. On older stems the bark peels in thin cinnamon-brown strips that show after the leaves drop.
Oakleaf hydrangeas bloom on old wood, setting next year's flower buds in late summer. The flowers stay white regardless of soil pH, though many age to pink or rose as nights cool. Prune in summer right after flowering and no later than August, since cutting in fall or early spring removes the buds. Dead stems can come out in spring, once new growth shows which ones are dead. Once established, oakleaf hydrangea takes more sun and more dry spells than bigleaf hydrangea, though it needs steady moisture its first year or two.
It does best with morning sun and shade from midday on, and its size suits a specimen spot, a woodland edge, or the back of a mixed border.
