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When you think of hydrangeas, low-growing shrubs with big, dusky blue flower clusters usually come to mind. But the hydrangea family includes a diverse selection of options for your landscape, including an elegant climbing vine and a stately native shrub with large, oak-leaf-shaped foliage. These versatile plants rarely suffer from pest and disease problems, and they grow in a wide range of zones, which explains why they make themselves at home in organic gardens from Maine to Oregon.
Familiar, but Better The bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), also known as the French hydrangea, is the most familiar. This species encompasses two groups, distinguished by the type of flower they produce: the mopheads, also known as hortensias (H. macrophylla var. macrophylla), and the lacecaps (H. macrophylla var. normalis). Both types are hardy in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6 through 9 and grow from 3 to 5 feet tall and wide.
The well-known flowers of H. macrophylla turn pink or blue depending on the pH of your soil. Choose an uncommon variety, however, and you'll have more than the flower's color to admire. 'Nigra' (a mophead type) features black stems that set off the plant's green foliage long before any flowers appear. And 'Lady in Red', a lacecap that's new for 2005, flushes burgundy in the fall, but its red stems and red-veined leaves make it appealing all season long.
