Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle offers an opportunity for those cold climate gardeners that fancy a hydrangea or three. Hydrangea Annabelle has huge moppy white flowers to ten inches or so, and offers much better winter hardiness than Hydrangea macrophylla (the big blue and pink Hydrangeas). Reliablely hardy in Zones 4/5 and pushing it in Zones 2/3 (although one hears stories…), Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle grows beautifully in the South as well and will flower profusely after fierce winters and impertinent pruning. Some nutcases actually grow Annabelle as a pruned hedge, but please don’t ruin the character of this shrub by ’shaping’ it. This plea goes especially for the Forsythia pruning crowd as well (and you know who you are).

Regarding sunlight, the catalogs and their ilk all mention mysterious terms like ‘partial sun’ and ‘partial shade’. The deal with Hydrangeas, not just Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle, is to give them morning sun and afternoon shade. Flowering will be more robust if Hydrangeas get sun. Mind, I’ve seen Oakleaf Hydrangeas and many other Hydrangea varieties happy and healthy in almost complete shade, although flowering is lessened and growth is more leggy…qualities I happen to appreciate in both Hydrangeas and the fairer sex of the human species.

Regardless of where you plant Annabelle Hydrangea, as with other Hydrangeas, you’re bound to get droopy leaf syndrome on hottish days (and ‘droopy leaf syndrome’ is not an official term…I made it up). Anyways, the leaves get all pouty and wilty and so long as the plant is established.  Under no circumstances is panicking in order.  No worries, although the flowers will last longer if protected by afternoon shade. 

Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle blooms on new wood so you can prune heavily right into (early) spring should you have been busy drinking hot rum on the bear skin rug all winter.  Grows to five to ten feet…plant four feet on center.  By the way, the characteristic of blooming on the current season’s growth is the primary reason Annabelle Hydrangea can be recommended so casually to cold climate gardeners.

Planting instructions? Chunk it in a hole (about 3 feet in diameter, has plenty of organic material, and is not a bog - standard stuff). The important thing is the exposure…oh one other thing…those of us that have the good sense to plant white flowers where they get afternoon shade get the beacon effect (once again, not an official term, just sort of made it up) where the white illuminates the shady spaces of our gardens and minds.

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