Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  Mountain Hydrangea

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

An attractive, re-blooming shrub featuring showy white to light-pink lacecap flowers with creamy centers, that turn more blue in acid soil; re-blooms on new and old wood; deep green leaves turn burgundy in fall

Ornamental Features

Tuff Stuff™ Hydrangea features bold pink lacecap flowers with white overtones and creamy white centers at the ends of the branches from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive dark green deciduous foliage. The serrated pointy leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding burgundy in the fall.

Landscape Attributes

Tuff Stuff™ Hydrangea is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its strikingly bold and coarse texture can be very effective in a balanced landscape composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Tuff Stuff™ Hydrangea is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Tuff Stuff™ Hydrangea will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It has a low canopy. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub performs well in both full sun and full shade. However, you may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for acidic soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Tuff Stuff™ Hydrangea makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.