Help! Which Hydrangea?
 

Hi,

Can anyone offer any advice as to which Climbing Hydrangea would be the best choice to go for?

I've been looking at the Evergreen Hydrangea Seemanii and the Hydrangea Petiolaris.

I've heard they are slow to establish, is that the same for both varieties, or is one quicker than the other?

Also, from what I've read, the H. Seemanii can be damaged in hard winters. One account I read mentioned that his didn't recover until September the following year! Is it normal for UK winters to damage the evergreen shrub this severely? And if so, would it make more sense to go with the deciduous Petiolaris?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

Hi Mike, you dont say where abouts in the UK you are ??? Hydrangea seemanii is a particular favourite form of mine, its bushy, self-clinging and as you say, when it gets going, its quite vigorous. If anything, I'd say that seemanii was quicker to establish the petiolaris ! As for hardiness, I cant comment because, I'm down in the west of Cornwall where its quite mild but even last winter when we had -10 C apart from the very new top growing tips, there was no other damage. One tip that could be useful for you, would be to grow it in a large container in a sunny spot to get it really 'going' before planting it out about early September, that way, you'd give it a really good start !
regards, lannerman.

Thanks a lot for the response. I'm based in Leicestershire - do you think this would make much of a difference? Could very cold temperatures (-15+) kill the shrub entirely - or would it be more likely to just kill the leaf foliage back?

[quote=mike696;953912]Hi,

Can anyone offer any advice as to which Climbing Hydrangea would be the best choice to go for?

I've been looking at the Evergreen Hydrangea Seemanii and the Hydrangea Petiolaris.

I've heard they are slow to establish, is that the same for both varieties, or is one quicker than the other?

Also, from what I've read, the H. Seemanii can be damaged in hard winters. One account I read mentioned that his didn't recover until September the following year! Is it normal for UK winters to damage the evergreen shrub this severely? And if so, would it make more sense to go with the deciduous Petiolaris?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Hi for a little North-East experience young H. Seemanii did get a hammering in the winter of 2010/2011. Agree 100% that Petiolaris is slow to start, three to four years to really get going but is 100% hardy in my experience.