There are a number of interesting new sorts available but I have the older sorts, H.quercifolia 'Pee-Wee' and 'Snow Queen'. The cone shaped white bloom panicle will gradually turn pinkish beige, turn to tan and hang on into winter. I have a vast, messed-up assortment of plants surrounding mine, so have never considered companion plants. The leaves are appreciated by me as much as the flowers, especially when the leaves have taken on their Fall color. They would look good contrasted with some fine textured foliage but have no idea if you want an evergreen, a plant for sun or shade, etc. etc. I expect the miniature daylilys will have their first flush of flowers at the same time the Hydrangea is blooming here.

Thanks bogturtle..I have the native just plain ole Oakleaf Hydrangea. Since I already have the buds, I guess it will be blooming in June sometime, right? So you mean to tell me the blooms stay on the shrub from June until the fall and then the foliage turns red too. This will be some presence in the garden all summer. Thanks for the good news.

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It's been my experience that fall plant oakleaf hydrangea often die over the winter. In addition, in my zone, I find they are often likely to die in a hard winter when the plants are very young. Once established, they do fine, though I did have extensive die back on one from the four nights of hard freeze we had here that followed two weeks of summer temps in March.

Laceyvail...I have heard that before. I felt very fortunate that mine came back after the past two winters. I think part of my problem with them is that they are in the windiest part of my yard and that will make it colder I am sure. I am sorry to hear that you lost some of yours this spring. That happened to me this year with my Clethra and last year with my Ninebark Dart's Gold. Had to cut them back to less than a foot from the ground. So where in your yard do you have yours planted and what is growing around it? :-)

Laceyveil...I'm sure glad that I clicked on this forum and
read your post. Last fall I purchased two (young Snowflake
Hydrangeas and two other oakleafs) I'm almost sure that the
Snowflakes are gone bye bye and the other two did indeed
die back to the ground. I watered and fed but I'm almost
afraid to even check on them :):) The late cold spell, however, didn't affect my older/mature oakleafs. A good
lesson learned...I'll be buying older and bigger plants.

I had two oakleaf hydrangeas at our last home and they both did fine. Actually, I dug up and replanted the first one and replaced it with a smaller variety because I miscalculated and it got too large for the space I had! They were planted near our tiny pond tucked away in a northwest corner, pretty sheltered. We had hostas, ferns and bleeding heart planted near it. I don't remember when it bloomed, but it is a plant for all seasons! There's not a time when it didn't add interest to the garden!

I have Tiarella cordifolia "Oakleaf" planted under mine. It's leaf is a tiny echo of the Hydrangea's, so it is a nice complement. It blooms before the shrub leafs out.

I now put a wind shelter of plastic around my dwarf Oakleaf, not sure of the name. It would get the buds killed with winter winds. Doesn't seem to mind the cold, just the terrible wind we have. Without plastic, the leaves would always come, just never bloomed. Never died to the ground, even in some severe weather of our winters.

Mine blooms in late summer. Wonderful fall color. I like the large leaf shapes in summer. It seems to be staying small, could be the cold. Was only supposed to ever reach 6ft, max. 4yrs in the garden, now about 30 inches tall, bigger 15" size when purchased.

Mine are growing well after planting in spring in 2006. There will be no flowers due to late frost. I have foxgloves planted near mine to echo the matte leaves and meserve holly Blue Princess for contrast, as well as helleboere orintalis. Mine get sun half the day and are planted in fairly heavy damp soil. Where I live, flowers on oak leaf hydrangeas are a bonus, for if we get a warm spell, they try to leaf out, then the cold returns, and thats the end of a flower for that year because the flowers grow off the tip of the branch. But the foliage is so spectacular, esp. in fall, that I try to forget about bloom.

So glad to find this thread and also see your posts, Goodhors & Entling and hello to all the Oakleaf H lovers - I just planted Alice last month no blooms yet but she is growing quite well I simply love the colors of her foliage in the different stages of their growth.

My ?? - 1. How much sun exposure do Quercifolias ideally like ... 'got the impression that they do better in part shade. The site I am reserving for a 2nd one (Vaughn's L, perhaps) will be where I have Hostas, shaded by grown trees.

2. How much overwintering protection would she need, to expect blooms next season ... would she need as heavy a wintercoat as Nikko? (Goodhors, I've kept notes of your method of protection, you have posted in another thread, thank you!)

Memmet -
"Mine get sun half the day and are planted in fairly heavy damp soil."

I read from Judith King's site "Hydrangeas, Hydrangeas" that Quercifolias do not like wet feet - perhaps you'll see more blooms and keep them longer if she were not in a damp area.

I know I had good blooming on my Oakleaf a couple of years ago after a warmer winter, but I can't say if that was the reason for the good bloom, because of subsequent breakage problems. Last winter it got pretty nasty here, and the plant has 3 large bloom trusses & 3 mini trusses on the undamaged part of the plant. Maybe it would bloom better if I protected it (from cold, as it definitely would bloom better if protected from tree trimmers!), but I like the look of the bare branches in winter with the peeling bark. I feel that it is worth it to sacrifice a few blooms for winter interest. Of course I'm also 1 of those people who refuse to wrap evergreens in burlap.

Gosh George ... a dream H Q!!! ... How old and how large is she? She is exactly my Alice wanna be - I've allowed ample room is I succeed.

I'm particularly curious about Q #1 E-exposure as that is exactly how my Alice is situated - back E border - f.s.in Winter to early Spring, a few hours of noon/early PM sun in summer & bright shade the rest of the day. I'll see how she does on 2nd season before thinking to relocate, if not happy there. I'm willing to protect after enjoying her Fall colors!!!

Entling - If I have the ideal spot closer for me to enjoy ... would not mind a few blooms less, but only if I could have as beautiful a Querci as George's (Ego45)!!! <:->

Good Morning! Checking in with HQ??? as it is time to protect our marginally tender babies - Keeping in mind Goodhors' method of protecting her dwarf HQ (I guess, could be Little Honey).

Entling - have you never protected yours even in their first season? How does Tiarella Cordifolia compare to Vaughn's Lillie or Little Honey?

Ego - I have taken notes of your HQ site descripttions/sun exposures as well as their coresponding behavior - I am opening up my front, W-facing site where I had planted 2 ES (0 blooms on #1 and 1 bloom on #2 - their 2nd season) + a Little Elf between them, (barely survived our 2wk-April freeze & that I intend to containerize come Spring). The area is practically just bight/shaded now, from grown trees. I would very much like to set in dwarf HQ in the site ... you said that your HQ bloomed less in your W-site - 'wonder about the dwarf varieties? Your valued thoughts please?

MTIA

Thank you all for the responses to my questions. I don't usually abandon a thread like this, I apologize. I am not sure if I have been getting all the responses in my mailbox as I used to do. GW has been erratic for me in that regard.

ego..I really enjoy the photo of your Oakleaf and hope that next year I can pay more attention to my two so that some day they may look like that. :-)

We had the worst drought this year that I can ever remember in my garden in the past 27 years. We had a water ban and even when other surrounding towns received rain, for some reason we would get a sprinkle and that would be it. Some of my shrubs and perennials look pretty awful and the Oakleafs especially. I start out with dry shade/part shade in a majority of my yard, so I don't think they appreciate those conditions. I am waiting for spring to move one of them due to the fact that it is in such bad shape I don't want to stress it further.

Actually, I am having difficulty getting shrubs established at all along my lot line that is in the root zone of several maples. They just suck the moisture and nutrients out of the soil. We left two piles around the garden this summer..one was leftover soil from a patio project and one was unused mulch. Within a couple of months time, the mulch pile was full of tree roots and the pile of dirt which was there a good 6 months and was 3 feet high, had tree roots through it all the way to the top of the pile. Which has me thinking, no wonder my shrubs are slow to grow etc.

I am trying to keep them well watered between now and a freeze and ordered 5yds of composted cow manure to spread along that lot line. I am hoping that will help but after seeing the roots in the piles, I am wondering if I need to dig out around the shrubs again and see if that will give them some more growing room for another year.

I actually have two shrubs that seem to be doing well without any additional attention. A cornus racemosa that has doubled in size under the dripline of a very large Silver Maple and a Viburnum Wentworth that is also twice the size and bushy with no sign of drought stress at all.
I am tempted to fill the whole back lot with just those two shrubs..lol. I do love the Oakleaf Hydrangeas and will try to help them along to continue to see some growth.

Thanks for all the input... pm2

I have 3 maples growing near my Oakleaf hydrangea (Snowflake) which does very well. It has grown from a 1ft tall mail order plant to over 6 feet in a little over two years. The plant needs no supplemental watering even when we had a drought last year (not as bad as other parts of the US) and I hear that OH is one of the most drought tolerant hydrangeas and the least tolerant of wet feet. I am much warmer than many of you, of course. I have heard that they should be planted in Spring

'Hoping to revive this thread with ??? - I went to pick up a present for a friend's b'day & got in trouble again ... another O H (Snow Queen) & Variegated H (Mariesii lacecap) came home with me - didn't feel too guilty as they both were just in a 2.62qt pot babies!!!

I read through an older thread on Oakleaf - with such enjoyment on the ZONE discussion!!! :-) also viewed photos and amazed at the speed of growth in a year's time of Snow Queen!

My ??? - I am thinking to sink this baby in the E end of my N facing foundation bed where I dug up a huge hosta from.The spot is 4ft from wall to edge of border - Ok to spill over a ft more.
1* - Is it OK to sink her as close to the wall to allow for her mature width?
2* - Is it possible to prune to control width w/o sacrificing looks/blooms?
3* - Protecting in youth wouldn't be a problem - will she develop better tolerance to z5 at maturity?
4* - Would I be better off to containerize her for a while/sink the container in the prep'd spot?

Appreciate your thoughts in advance! :-)
D

I'm so glad you revived this thread ditas! I want one so bad, I've been considering getting one for a long time. There is a place nearby that over-wintered a Snow Queen in the pot, it is quite large (3 gallon?), she may have root-pruned it as well. I suppose I should look at that. I think she is asking $60, which I thought was quite high. After reading this, I wonder if that's a good deal, providing there are no circling roots?