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).
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