No plant will show signs of dry soil any faster than hydrangeas, oakleafs included. Others of us prefer to trim them off immediately after they finish flowering so we can reshape our plants and encourage good regrowth for next spring. Some gardeners let them dry in place before harvesting them for dried flower arrangements. They’re green as they begin, opening up to bright creamy white, then shading to pink or rose and on to chaffy brown after they’re finished. It’s those magnificent flower heads that range from eight to 12 inches in length. And when those leaves turn rich crimson red in the fall, they’re even more impressive.īut leaf size, texture, fall color, and the plants’ bark character in winter all pale in comparison to the real reason we grow oakleaf hydrangeas. Few plants that we grow will stand out as well from a distance. Its leaves, and even its bare stems in the winter, are notably coarse-textured. Odds are you’re not even going to equate it to the pink or blue “mophead” hydrangeas you buy for Easter or Mother’s Day, because this one is sold with, and used as, a major landscaping accent shrub. Oaks are all in the genus Quercus, and oakleaf hydrangeas are Hydrangea quercifolia. It’s a shrub that, with some varieties, can grow to be five or six feet tall and six or eight feet wide.īecause its huge leaves loosely resemble those of a few species of oaks, it’s called “oakleaf” hydrangea, and that nomenclature even carries over into its species name. My gardening friend, I introduce you to the most “user-friendly” hydrangea you’re ever going to meet here in North Central Texas.
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