Powerball™ Panicle hydrangea

Large, nearly round flower heads packed with florets open lime green on this panicle hydrangea, turn white, and age to soft pink and red in fall. Hydrangea paniculata Powerball® 'SMNHPLK' grows 3 to 6 feet tall and wide in full sun to part sun, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 9.

The heads are broader and blunter than the usual panicle cone, and flowering runs from summer into fall without deadheading. The plant resists disease and keeps a reliable, rounded habit.

Panicle hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata, takes more sun than any other common hydrangea and flowers on new wood from midsummer into fall. Buds form in spring on the current year's growth, so a hard winter or a late frost does not cost it a season of bloom, and soil pH has no effect on the color.

Most panicle hydrangeas open white or green and age to pink or red. That change is driven by cool nights, so northern gardens color up strongly while warmer southern gardens tend to hold cream and soft blush instead. Cut back by about a third in late winter or early spring. Panicle hydrangeas take average soil as long as it drains, and once established they handle dry spells better than the other hydrangea groups.

It works as a hedge, a specimen, or the back of a border.