hydrangea paniculata pink diamond : paniculata, hardy hydrangea

17 years ago

I'm working on three garden areas at a time as always ;) and though I won't finish any of them enough to look like much for several years, I always try to buy what I can when I can find it on sale. A couple of years ago I sunk a small fortune into Viburnum shrubs that were supposed to be hardy in my "zone 4b" (Ha!) climate. The plan was to enclose my kitchen/potager garden with them. The drought that summer didn't help them much, to get really well established, and then they were hit with -25F. temps that winter. Much colder than zone 4b is supposed to be. I lost all but 2 of them which then succumbed to the first 90F. days that we had last summer. This past winter we spent many nights at -32F. and I lost a lot more plants and trees.

I'm thinking of trying this again with a different, more cold hardy, shrub and I gotta get it right this time. It's getting wayyyy expensive to replace half my garden every year. I have been reading reviews and information for Paniculata, Pink Diamond. The information I have read says this shrub will love either full sun or half sun/half shade and is hardy in zones 3-10. It grows 6ft. tall and 8-10 ft. wide. It sounds like a good size for a garden enclosure, or am I dreaming? I will say that I have tried Lime Light twice and Quick Fire once and lost all of them.

Can any of you in Zone 3-4, that grow Pink Diamond, tell me how it is growing for you and what kind of growing conditions you have it planted in? Like sun/shade, high temp/low temp, soil type, and additional soil amendments you have needed to add to get it to grow and bloom well etc.?

Thanks!

MeMo

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Comments (8)

DYH
17 years ago
I'm not in your zone and I don't have that hydrangea. It sounds lovely! I just want to mention that if deer are a problem in your garden, they will eat hydrangea.

Hope you're doing great!

Cameron
memo3
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks Cameron! We have lots of deer but they are scared of my yipping little dogs :) They never come very close.

MeMo
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Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
17 years ago
You mean I should get a herd of chihuauas? LOL! I would love anything that would keep the deer away!

I am in a solid zone 5 and don't have a problem growing pink diamond, but it sounds like you get much colder during the winter than me, so I'm sorry I don't have a lot to offer there.

Did you try Viburnum trilobum? They are hardy to zone 2 and would form a nice screen plus give you 3 seasons of interest. There are compact varieties if 8-12' high and wide is too big. Just a thought.
DYH
17 years ago
A herd of chihuahuas chasing deer! There's a cartoon vision in my head with that little idea! LOL

Cameron
memo3
Original Author
17 years ago
My yipping pups are Jack Russell Terrier's, I have two new ones, Sadie and Babe, because both Jack and Bella disappeared this past winter. We have Mt. Lions and Coyotes in this country, sorry to say. I also have a Blue Tick Coon Hound that patrols the ranch all night long, looking for raccoons in the trees, so he's good at scaring up deer too. I guess the deer just know they are always here, so they don't even bother.

Thyme2dig, I planted five different varieties all about the same size at full growth and all hardy to zone 4. If you find one that that is shorter and narrower, please let me know. The one you mentioned would be too big, I think, because it's so tall. It might shade out the vegetables in the garden. Thank you though.

MeMo
herbalbetty
17 years ago
Memo, I am in zone 5a in the Catskill Mountains of NY state. I grow Pink Diamond and it does very well here. Not quite as cold as you are. We do get some fierce winds (I lived near Omaha for 7 years and know Nebraska winds are also fierce!!!) We also don't get the extreme heat like you would. Because of our slightly higher elevation (1200 feet), spring is a little later in getting here - at least a week behind the valley. Pink Diamond was planted as a 2 foot high plant from a 1 gallon pot. That was, maybe, 4 years ago. It is now 5 foot high and has a spread of 6-7 foot. It might have been larger, but the first year or two, deer severely browsed it. I don't have dogs. It is absolutely lovely in bloom.
Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
17 years ago
The pink diamond would get to be about 6 X 6. Is that the approximate size you are looking for? That may even shade out some of the garden at 6'. Going in a completely different direction, if it's a veggie garden I imagine you have plenty of sun. What about spirea? I have some Spiraea bumalda 'crispa' in a nice hedge. It has gotten to be about 3 1/2 X 3 and is quite tidy as a hedge. That may not be tall enough for you though.

I think V. dentatum 'Blue Muffin' might be a more narrow viburnum and should be good to zone 3. Different books and websites show different sizes. Dirr says it gets to be about 2-4' wide. Mine is definitely growing in more of a vase shape as opposed to round. It's still a young shrub though.
memo3
Original Author
17 years ago
HerabalBetty, Thanks for chiming in. Wow, that is amazing growth in a few years time, even with the deer browsing it. Is it as full at the bottom as it is at the top? Does it spread by runners like a lilac does? What I read says it blooms only on new wood, does that mean that the majority of the blooms are on the top of the shrb and the lower portion is fairly free of blooms? I don't want the base of a shrub that large to look like a vase of flowers if you know what I mean. I appreciate your input. Thanks

Thyme2dig, I believe at full size the Pink Diamond is supposed to be about 6x10, a 4-5' x 8-10' shrub would be perfect. The continuous perimeter length (circumference?) of the garden is some thing like 200 ft., this is for sure a case where size matters! It will take a lot of them to form a hedge that long and the cost, depending, could be phenomenal! Pink Diamond is a bit taller than I'd like But I thought that I could probably trim it in late winter while it's dormant since it buds on new growth only. I think that should work. Someone tell me if I'm thiking this all out wrong, please!

I have grown Spirea "Gold Mound" when I lived in zone 5 and it was a fabulous shrub. I had around 25 of them encircling my pergola/patio. They looked so smashing with the deep red climbing roses that grew on the pergola.

"At this house I have Spirea Jap. "Magic Carpet". They are hardy enough to hang on every year but they have not grown more than 6" in over four years now. If I knew I was getting on that had some growing power and would be zone 3 hardy I buy it in a heart beat. I'll go search the Spireas some more. I'm sure that many more have come out since I last took a look at them! Oh, BTW, the Blue Muffin was long coveted by me. I got one little panicale of Blue seeds before it to croaked. The seeds on that are a LOT darker than they've colorized them in the catalogs.

MeMo