White flower heads up to a foot across sit on thick, upright stems on this smooth hydrangea. Hydrangea arborescens Incrediball® 'Abetwo' grows 4 to 5 feet tall and wide in part shade, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 8.
The stems were selected to be thick enough to carry heads that size without staking. The flowers open pale green, turn white, and age back to green, and the dried heads stay on through winter. It flowers in one long flush, and cutting off spent heads can bring a lighter second round.
Smooth hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens, is native to the eastern United States and is one of the hardiest garden hydrangeas, reliable into Zone 3. It flowers on new wood, forming its buds in spring on the current year's growth, so a hard winter or a late frost does not cost it a season of bloom. Soil pH does not change the flower color.
Cut the stems back to about 18 inches in late winter or early spring, before new growth starts, and the plant flowers the same summer on the growth that follows. Leaving that framework rather than cutting to the ground builds thicker stems to carry the flower heads. Smooth hydrangeas need steady moisture, tolerate wet ground, and do best with shade from midday on where summers run hot. Deer do browse them.
It is big enough for a hedge, a mass planting, or the back of a border.
Size at Maturity
Height 4'- 5' Spread 4'- 5'
Growing Zone
USDA Hardiness Zones 3-8
Lowest Temperatures -40°F to -30°F
Light Requirements
Part shade - 4 to 6 hours of direct sun per day, mostly before midday
Special Conditions
Seasons of Interest
How to Plant
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