Hydrangea star gazer full#
Hydrangea star gazer series#

It typically blooms on old wood in late spring with repeat bloom on new wood from summer often into fall if spent flowers are regularly deadheaded.

Hydrangea star gazer series#

It is part of the DOUBLE DELIGHTS SERIES from Ball Ornamentals. 'Kompeito' (trade name of STAR GAZER) is a compact lacecap cultivar that typically grows to 3-4' tall and to 3-5' wide. Specific epithet comes from the Greek words makros meaning large and phyllon meaning leaf in reference to plant leaves. The genus name Hydrangea comes from hydor meaning 'water' and aggeion meaning 'vessel', in reference to the cup-like capsular fruit. It generally features serrate, obovate to elliptic, dark green leaves (4-8” long) and large clusters of long-blooming summer flowers in either lacecap form (flattened flower clusters of small fertile florets with scattered showy sterile florets often forming a marginal ring) or mophead form (globose flower clusters of mostly showy sterile florets). Louis area, typically grows 3-6’ tall and as wide unless damaged by harsh winters or pruned smaller. Hydrangea macrophylla, commonly called big leaf hydrangea, is a deciduous shrub with a rounded habit that, in the St. Even if old growth buds are damaged in winter, plants should still flower in summer on new growth. Hydrangea macrophylla STAR GAZER blooms on both old and new growth and reportedly has better winter hardiness than many of the other H. Their pruning and flowering can differ from that of the species. Some newer cultivars have been selected that flower on both old and new wood. low temperatures, sudden wide temperature fluctuations, icy conditions, late frosts).

Regardless of protective measures taken, most bigleaf hydrangeas simply will not bloom (or will bloom poorly) in some years because of a variety of winter occurrences beyond the control of the gardener (e.g. A burlap wrap of stems or circle of chicken wire filled with leaves or straw to 8-12' are time-consuming and visually unattractive landscape options, but can be effective. For added protection, however, plants grown in USDA Zone 5 should be sited in sheltered locations and given additional winter protection, as needed, for the purposes of minimizing the risk of loss of significant numbers of flower buds or possible die-back to the ground in an extremely harsh winter. Best to mulch plants year-round with 3' of shredded bark, peat or compost. Prune out weak or winter-damaged stems in late winter/early spring. If needed, prune immediately after flowering by cutting back flowering stems to a pair of healthy buds. Begin soil treatments well in advance of flowering, as in late autumn or early spring. Add aluminum sulfate to the soil to make the flowers bluer or add lime to the soil to make the flowers pinker. Soil pH affects the flower color of most cultivars except white (blue in highly acidic soils and lilac to pink in slightly acidic to alkaline soils).

Hydrangea star gazer full#

Tolerates full sun only if grown in consistently moist soils. Best grown in rich, medium moisture, well-drained soils in part shade.