Re: Oakleaf Hydrangea

Nan Sterman wrote:
>Hi all!  Anyone have any experience growing oakleaf hydrangea in medit
>climates?

I'll say Hi too, I've been lurking a while!  

I've planted oakleaf hydrangeas in several gardens in the Los Angeles area,
including my own.  The gardens range from Sunset 21 to 24, and the plants
have done well in all of them, in partial shade in the interior, more sun at
the coast.  I try to give them reasonably good soil and some moisture, but
they are generally growing under and around trees, so there is some root
competition.  I think they may color a bit better in the inland Pasadena
gardens, and the leaves hold up better through the summer in the milder
areas, but they seem to bloom pretty well everywhere. 

The one in my garden is maybe 15 years old and eight feet high,and has
occasionally flirted with chlorosis, or had a bout with scale, but even
though it is a bit ungainly in the winter and sometimes you have to pull the
old leaves off, it is one of the nicer things in my (mostly)white garden.   

Actually, since my garden near Pasadena is a sort of inadvertent
Underwriter's Laboratory for plants (We test them to destruction), and it
grows in colder areas too, Hydrangea quercifolia's probably a good candidate
for partial shade on Mars.  :-)   Has anyone grown H. villosa successfully
in these zones?  (21-24, not Mars).

Chris Rosmini
<chrismin@earthlink.net>
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