Cait's Garden

I love love LOVE Annabelle Hydrangeas. They are dreamy and cool and wonderful. They light up any yard and the flower heads are actually huggable, like fluffy pom-poms. This classic hydrangea is in the “Hydrangea arborescens” family and blooms on both new and old wood…a key factor for reliable hydrangeas in our colder zone. There are now pink varieties of this shrub available and while those are nice, nothing can beat this charmer, which opens white and eventually turns a cool green in late summer. They do best in areas with a little shade (Southern exposure would stress them out a bit). The only negative is, due to the size of the flowers, these shrubs can flop, especially after a storm. I used to have them by my front door, but the flopping made them a little too messy. Now they are in the backyard and can sprawl happily.