Re: [SG] hydrangea petiolaris

Can't find the query about shade tolerant shrubs - and it may have been
somewhere in the discussion of viburnum tomentosa mariesii - at any rate, I
can't let the opportunity pass to put in a plug for the beautiful climbing
hydrangea.

I visit one that is about forty years old climbing up an old tree - it clings
to the trunk for twenty feet and then twines it's way out  spreading graceful
branches covered with sterile/fertile white clusters - an absolute
showstopper when in bloom but healthy and beautiful all year round.

I have one on the north side of my house that has never had the sun shine on
it - this thrives in total shade and while it doesn't bloom as profusely as
one out in back that gets flickering sunshine once in a while, it's handsome.
 Because the house is clapboard, my housepainter rigged a rack so that it
could be angled a bit and he threatens to paint on a few more flowers.

The habit of hydrangea petiolaris is part of it's appeal - branches not only
grow up, spreading wide but flexible enough to arrange on the frame - it also
sends out multiple branches on the surface beneath it - no need to worder
what to plant below it, it takes care of that gracefully.  Since these
branches send down roots, one of these days I'll try potting up.

The viburnum tomentosa mariesii got soaked in a disastrous oil spill two
years ago - which wiped out a bed of iris in three days.  After a good
scrubbing down, it rallied a bit, lost about the top couple of feet, but
"shorty" is back in business, blooming this year   The highbush cranberry
never lost a leaf.    You can't kill a viburnum!

Betty Barrows]
Kinderhook, NY Zone 5
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