Summer is the time for vacations, warm temperatures, and flowering hydrangeas. Among the things that New Englanders come to count on in summertime include ice cream and hydrangeas in flower. Just in our small town of Boothbay, never have I seen so many hydrangeas planted. Due to our mild summers, hydrangea blossoms here along the Maine coast are enormous. It must be the ample moisture, warm days, and cool nights that lead to the huge flowers. Everyone loves to see big hydrangeas in the garden but lurking in the shadows is a lesser-known, herbaceous relative: Deinanthe caerulea. This native of China has the incredibly creative common name of “false hydrangea.” Come on guys, can’t we think up a better name than that for this strangely attractive plant with eye-catching blue flowers? How about “ground-cover hydrangea?” Or “little blue rarity that nobody else has?”

We have a healthy grouping of Deinanthe at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens planted in the shade of a mature larch tree. A friend was admiring the clump this past weekend and suggested that we move some plants to a sunnier location as they would get larger. I have a couple of spots in mind as right now, they are really tucked away so only the plant connoisseurs will recognize them. For those who do catch a glimpse of them, they will see what look like small hydrangeas with nodding, light cerulean blue flowers. Our plants are around 2 feet in height and slightly more in width. In researching this post, I see that there is also Deinanthe bifida along with hybrid between D. bifida and D. caerulea. I definitely will look to add these to the gardens this year as well. Have you grown any of the false hydrangeas? If so, what has been your experience with the plants?

– Rodney

Images: Rodney Eason, Kristine Paulus (by CC)

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