Create the Perfect Hydrangea

It’s that time of the year when I go through all my notes and photographs and complete my evaluations on all the new plants we’re testing. Right now, I’m reviewing all of our potential Hydrangea macrophylla introductions.

Evaluating and introducing Hydrangeas is a long process. For example we work with several Hydrangea breeders in Europe that are doing some really cool work. The picture above shows my travel buddy Dale Deppe, the owner of Spring Meadow Nursery, in a breeder's greenhouse surrounded by unnamed Hydrangea varieties. Our job that day was to determine which plants were good and worth pursuing. It wasn’t easy, but we made our initial selections. Later that year cuttings were shipped to us in Michigan. There's a two year quarantine on Hydrangea (a well as many other species) so during this time we test, evaluate and try to determine if the plants will work for our customers and the American gardening public.

I’ve invested years combing the globe for some really cool Hydrangeas. I’ve also committed years to my own hydrangea breeding program. In all, I have assembled a wide range of excellent plants with a wide array of attributes.

We have plants that rebloom and those that don’t rebloom. We have plants with mop-head flowers and lace-cap flowers. We have miniature plants, plants with bi-colored (variegated)flowers, ground covering plants, plants with dark black stems, and plants with massive flowers. You name it we have it. But what should we introduce? That is the question.

I need your help. Take a short survey and tell me what you think about Hydrangeas. Your answers will help me decide which, if any, of my Hydrangeas will hit the market.

Click here to take survey