DreamScape Smooth Hydrangea

DreamScape smooth hydrangea carries mophead flower heads 8 to 10 inches across, enough to anchor the middle of a foundation planting or a mixed shrub border. This First Editions selection, Hydrangea arborescens 'BAICZ10', grows 3 to 4 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide, is hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 8, and takes full sun or part shade depending on how hot your summers run. Give it two seasons to reach its stated width, since most of the first year goes into roots.

Flowers open dark ruby pink in late June and age to a soft parchment pink. The heads do not all open at once, so both colors are on the plant at the same time through much of the summer. The stems are thick enough to carry that weight without staking. Cut fresh, the flowers hold well in an arrangement, and left on the plant they dry to the same parchment shade.

Foliage is dark green and stays clean late into the season, which counts for something on smooth hydrangeas, where leaf spot often leaves the plant looking tired by August. The habit is upright and rounded, slightly wider than it is tall, and it fills in rather than opening up through the center. Hydrangea arborescens is native to the eastern United States, though DreamScape is a bred selection rather than a wild form.

Soil should be moist and well drained. This is not a shrub for a dry spot, and it will tell you so by wilting on hot afternoons. In cooler northern gardens it takes full sun as long as the moisture holds; in the South it does better with shade from mid afternoon on. Flowering happens on new wood produced the same spring, so a hard winter or a late freeze costs you nothing in bloom. Deer browse smooth hydrangeas, so plan on repellent or fencing if you have pressure from them.