Super Show - Offs!

Big-blooming hydrangeas are real showstoppers that won’t stop performing until Jack Frost arrives.

Lacecaps and mopheads, cultivars of Hydrangea macrophylla, also known as big-leaf hydrangeas, are popular shrubs that have been around for decades and become stalwarts of British summer gardens. They are used as a backdrop for herbaceous borders or to make a statement hedge, especially in milder coastal regions, as they have good tolerance of salt-laden sea wind. They also pack a punch in containers on the patio.

Even bright summer bedding plants can’t compete with the eye-catching neon blue or pink flowers of the mopheads’ pom-pom-like flower heads. These giant blooms, often as big as your hat, are in fact a mass of petal-like bracts and well known for their curious ability to change colour in different soils. The pH or acidity of the soil affects the availability of aluminium, so using their in-built chemistry set, they determine their own flower colour!