Plant Library

Other Names:  French Hydrangea, Bigleaf Hydrangea

Group/Class:  Wee Bit Series

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

A tidy, compact shrub producing long lasting, intensely red, ball shaped flowers; gives an outstanding performance in the shrub border or foundation garden; perfect for patio containers; soil pH affects bloom color

Ornamental Features

Wee Bit Giddy® Hydrangea features bold balls of red flowers at the ends of the branches from early summer to early fall, which emerge from distinctive chartreuse flower buds. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has forest green deciduous foliage. The serrated pointy leaves do not develop any appreciable fall color.

Landscape Attributes

Wee Bit Giddy® Hydrangea is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Wee Bit Giddy® Hydrangea is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Wee Bit Giddy® Hydrangea will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 30 inches. It tends to be a little leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth. To help this plant achive its best flowering performance, periodically apply a flower-boosting fertilizer from early spring through into the active growing season. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for alkaline soils. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in both summer and winter to conserve soil moisture and protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Wee Bit Giddy® Hydrangea makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.