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Blossom
color: Pink or Blue, depending on soil pH. In acid
soil, the color will be blue.
Fragrance: Nonet
Bloom time: Late June through first fall
frost.
Size:
3-5' tall and wide
Uses: Mixed border, shrub border, hedge or
as an accent or specimen plant. Does best in shade and moist
soil. Can take morning sun.
Hardiness: Zones 4-9
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 Endless
Summer® Hydrangea is the hottest new plant available! What's so great about this new Hydrangea? Well, it can bloom
all summer on both this year's and last year's growth, so
you'll have loads of Hydrangea blossoms all summer long.
A Gardener's Dream!
For those gardeners who live in cold climates (Zones 4 and
colder), Endless Summer® is very hardy. So, you can be
confident that regardless of whether the plant dies back to
the crown or is trimmed at the wrong time, you'll still get
those wonderful Hydrangea flowers all season. Another bonus
with Endless Summer® is that it's proven to be more mildew
resistant than other Hydrangea macrophylla varieties.
What you'll receive:
Plants 2-year old, field-grown plants with 12 to 18-inch stems
with multiple branches and a strong root system. They should
bloom the first year that they are planted. Shipped bareroot
(no soil or pot) and dormant (no foliage). Learn more about
our plants.
Shipping: $0-$75=$12.00, $75.01-$125=$15, $125.01-$200=$20, >$200=10% of total. Shipped UPS Ground in
spring from early April through mid May.
[Catalog #FS28]
How to Use in the Garden:
Endless Summer® is a very versatile plant and it's ideal
for every area of your garden and home. Use for:
- Foundation plantings
- Specimen plant
- Shrub or perennial border
- Container gardening program
- Patio or deck accents
- Roosting and nesting shrub for birds
- Dried flowers are great for wreaths, floral arrangements,
and table settings.
Endless Summer® produces spectacular pink or blue blossoms
depending on the pH of your soil. If you don't know the pH
content of your soil, ask your garden center for a soil testing
kit. Alkaline soils with a pH of 6-7, will produce pink blooms.
More acidic soil, with a pH of 5-5.8, will turn your blossoms
blue. To lower the soil pH, add a soil acidifier to the soil
before planting. Follow the directions on the package to encourage
blue blooms throughout the season.
To encourage rebloom, remove spent flowers (and use them
in dried arrangements!). Because Endless Summer® blooms
on new growth, you don't have to wait until the next season
to see new blooms.
This plant does best in shade or dappled sun in moist, well-drained
soil. It can also do well with morning sun, but afternoon
sun and dry soil can make the leaves wilt. So, try to plant
in a shady, moist spot.
Northern Climate Winter Care
To ensure overwintering success in the first year, the following
is recommended:
- Stop all applications of fertilizer after August 15th
to acclimate the plant for winter.
- Keep the soil moist through the fall months until the
ground is frozen.
- Cover the plant with a four-inch layer of organic mulch
(wood mulch, leaves, etc.). There is no need to cover all
stems to the tip or to cut them back.
- Covering should be done when fully dormant (around November
30th), or at the same time you would cover perennials in
your garden.
- In spring, uncover with your perennials when the ground
is no longer frozen. The plant will grow from the base of
the plant and also from any old branches that survived winter.
- Be patient. Growth will come slowly until the heat of
late spring stimulates the plant to grow faster.
- Once you see growth you can prune back the old branches
to a finger width above the new green growth.
- Blossoms should begin in late June.
Pruning
Endless Summer® Hydrangea is very forgiving and will
not suffer if left unpruned or pruned at the wrong time. In
fact, young, recently planted shrubs are best left alone.
Unlike other Hydrangeas, your Endless Summer® will bloom
on both old and new wood, branches that grew last year and
the new branches from this year. Another unique feature is
that this hydrangea will continue to set buds and bloom throughout
the season; deadheading the spent flowers will encourage this.
Feel free to cut the blooms for drying or fresh cut in vases
because you will actually encourage the plant to produce more
blossoms. Spring is the best time to prune. Many people like
to leave the spent blooms on their plant because it adds winter
interest. It may also act to insulate the new buds from frost
and cold. But, they should be removed in spring.
Fertilizer
Use a good, all-purpose garden fertilizer -- preferably
a natural or organic-based, granular fertilizer. If you want
blue flowers, you can also purchase fertilizers that are just
for acid-loving plants. This type of fertilizer will help
lower the pH of your soil while feeding your plant. Be sure
to thoroughly water the soil around your plant before adding
any fertilizer or soil acidifier. If you plant your Hydrangea
near a concrete foundation, be aware that concrete leaches
into surrounding soil and raises the soil pH.
Growing info above courtesy of Bailey
Nurseries
What's a "bareroot" plant?
 "Bareroot"
is a term that describes how a plant is shipped to you. A
bareroot plant is not in a pot, and is usually dormant (not
actively growing). See the photo to the right that shows what
a bareroot rose looks like. The bareroot plants that we ship
to you were harvested in the fall and placed in cold storage
over the winter to keep them dormant. In the spring, we ship
the bareroot plants to our customers, from early April through
mid May.
Bareroot plants are easy to grow. We include planting instructions
with your order. When you receive your plant, take it out
of the packing material and place it in a bucket of water
so that the roots are completely covered. Let the roots soak
for 4 to 24 hours, then plant it in your garden. Full planting
instructions with photos are available on our planting
shrubs page.
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