Long-lasting blooms shift from deep pink or blue through maroon and green as they age, so a bigleaf hydrangea in flower carries several stages at once. Hydrangea macrophylla Magical® Revolution 'Hokomarevo' grows 1 to 3 feet tall and wide in part shade, hardy from Zone 5 through Zone 9.
The flowers hold on the plant as they age rather than browning off, so the shifting color builds through the season instead of needing deadheading. It reblooms, flowering on old and new wood.
Bigleaf hydrangeas change color with soil pH. Acidic soil below about 6.0 gives blue, alkaline above 7.0 gives pink, and the range between produces purple or a mix of pink and blue on the same plant. White varieties stay white. Aluminum sulfate pushes flowers toward blue and garden lime pushes them toward pink, and either takes a season to show.
Older bigleaf hydrangeas flower only on old wood, meaning buds set in late summer for the following year, so a hard winter or a late frost could cost a whole season. Most varieties now bloom on both old and new wood, though the second round is lighter than the first. Prune in summer after the first flowering and no later than August, since cutting in fall or early spring removes the buds that carry the heaviest bloom. Dead stems can come out in spring, once new growth shows which ones are dead.
The compact size suits a container or the front of a border.
