You have no idea how lucky you are to find it. I saw it advertised by Monrovia last year but there were no local nurseries that carried it (or mail order ones). I think the closest one was either in Iowa or Kansas.

No mail order nurseries Monrovia said. They did not produce that many. I think this was a way for Dan to help Monrovia who is financially ailing.

yes, Monrovia doesn't do mail order, either directly or via any online nurseries :-) And while they do sell to box stores, it is typically a different selection of plants or a different grade than what is offered by retail garden centers/nurseries.

We were only able to bring in 10 plants at my nursery and I was informed by the buyer that was it! Dan, who happens to be a neighbor of mine, has been marketing some new and usually exotic introductions via Monrovia for several years. No doubt it is a boost to Monrovia as Dan is such a big horticultural draw, but it also a vehicle for Dan to get some great undiscovered plants on the marketplace. Since Burpee's takeover and sudden closing of Dan's Heronswood Nursery, he has had limited opportunity to market his finds.

bought one at McDonalds in Newport News-can not wait to see what it does

Gardengal, how has your Golden Crane done for you, are the flowers as fragrant as they are said to be? I picked one up on Thursday at Phoenix Perennials, being the sucker I am for anything fragrant. Old age is creeping up so I'm planting more shrubs, most hydrangeas give you a show for such a long time. I also picked up 'Love', 'Cityline Venice' and 'Spike' the devil made me do it. 'Miss Saori' is pre-order :).
Annette

Annette, I planted one a year ago, also being something of a sucker for anything Hinkley related ;) The deer love it. I have just three flowers so far and all three are about 6" from the ground but I got down on my knees a while ago and sniffed. Lovely fragrance. Now if with some deer repellent and some care, the plant would just grow enough to get some of those flowers up at a more convenient level to enjoy....

I bought hydrangea aspera Purple Probst from Dan just yesterday, its going in the ground near Golden Crane this afternoon, preemptively sprayed for deer....

morz8, I haven't had to worry about deer so far having said that, they are around..... the one I brought home is a fair size and I can see two or 3 flowers starting.
I have H. aspera bought at a U.B.C. plant sale as a rooted cutting a few years back, it has thrown a few flowers. I cut it back a bit last year thinking I would lose the flowering this year but it has lots of buds forming. I don't think mine has a cultivar name tho...
A picture of my aspera last year.

Unfortunately, my Golden Crane didn't make it. It was in a container- like 95% of my other plants - but didn't survive its first winter. And I never bothered to replace it. In all honesty, I'm not as impressed with the plant as I was when they were first introduced.......just doesn't have the same flower impact as other hydrangeas.

Since that first post, I have acquired a Ruby Slippers oakleaf, Pistachio, Bombshell paniculata and a throw-away Endless Summer and already had several other hydrangeas so I think I am maybe at my hydrangea limit ;-) I have very little inground garden space and it is full. And there's a limit to how many containers one can manage as well! I have a hard time limiting my plant acquisitions when before I had room for whatever I wanted. Now, if I buy a new shrub or tree, I have to buy another container to plant it in and that starts to add up fast.

I love asperas. Next to oakleafs, I think they are my faves. I had a gorgeous big one in my old garden and it was simply iridescent in bloom. Your photo brings back pleasant memories, Annette.

Here are some photos of my Golden Crane. It is lightly fragrant but otherwise gorgeous. Unfortunately it got sort of decapitated last fall but still bloomed although the branches are only a few inches off the ground. This spring the new growth is just fine so next year it should look like a real hydrangea and not a beautiful ground cover. lol

Mine is still in it's pot, just waiting for some daylilies to finish blooming in the spot I have picked out for mine, they will be dug and relocated :). It has several flowers just starting to open and you can detect the fragrance although it is light. Thanks for the photos of yours opheonix, after seeing them I think the spot I have picked out for mine is just right.
Annette

For those who got fragrance. Amount of light given plant snd do you fertilize?

Mine lacks fragrance and so does every single one I sniffed at local nurseries. I start to think that fragrance is somewhat of an exception on these shrubs and you need to look for one that has it while purchasing.

We both grew ours in Woodinville and now mine in S Seattle. So maybe needs a climate different thsn Maritime?

Gfleatham, do you think it's lack of heat? Sun? While mine grows it is really nothing special. I will not repurchase. There are so many other wonderful hydrangeas that do great in PNW. I will not waste any more space in my garden for something that refuses to perform.

Here's a pic of my Golden Crane planted last fall, mine does have a light fragrance.

The chartreuse coloring isn't as intense as I've seen in some of the pictures. Still I do like this hydrangea, I have a 'Miss Saori' planted on either side. This bed gets morning sun, afternoon shade, before planting all I did was I added a sack of Sea Soil to the bed.

Annette

I feel this plant actually has great potential for beauty. Feel it just needs some years to get there. So slower is all. Not sure on rest if factors yet.

My Golden Crane has a wonderful fragrance when it is dried by the sun. One of the branches grew to more than 8 feet early this spring. There are still a few blooms on this really tall branch although they are getting pretty shabby. Since spring, there are about 7 more of these huge branches and I can't wait to see the blooms next spring. We don't fertilize but it is planted in a small area full of very happy Hydrangeas. Also in the space is the heat exchanger for the house. An Ayesha, a cutting of one other in the garden has pink blooms and the mother plant about 30 feet away has blue flowers. We think it might be the cement pad for the heat exchanger sharing the garden that the plants love and possibly the air movement of the heater keeps it from freezing in the winter. This little garden gets a lot of water because the hose is located right at the edge. The location is quite sunny, facing south west, from noon to 7pm during the summer with the house shading it until noon.

I had a lovely Ayesha but had to remove it last October, it was right where the new water line to the house had to go. I took cuttings and just shoved them in the ground in the veggie garden, they rooted over the winter in fact one of the cuttings bloomed this year, I gave most of the rooted cuttings away only keeping a couple.

I was dreading digging this hydrangea up as it was a mature specimen but I lucked out, the backhoe operator did it for me :), we split it in three and gave those away too. I ended up planting one of the rooted cuttings so fortunately I still have Ayesha. I love the flowers on this one, for years it bloomed blue and then started to change, the last year it was like looking at a basket of Easter eggs, blue, pink, mauve and white all on the same plant. A closeup of Ayesha when it was in it's blue faze.

Annette

do i prune this down to the ground in late august cutting off all the new growth or the whole thing? Mine never comes to fully filled out flowers. It's like it's trying to fully bloom and can just never make it. help!

Melissa, is Golden Crane the hydrangea you are referring to? If not, can you post a photo of yours? Not all hydrangeas produce big, full dense flowers. A great many produce lacecap type flowers which DO look like they are only partially opened. But that is the way they are supposed to look :-)

it's a gold crane. so...good to know I'm not doing something wrong. :) Just want to know how / if I should prune it. I have a mophead that I take to the ground each year. But the Golden Crane, I don't think I've ever pruned. It always seems to have new shoots in the center that are significantly taller than the rest of the plan. Thanks!!

Other than removing any dead wood that may be present, I don't often find a need to ever prune my hydrangeas. In the cases of species like macrophylla, serrata, aspera and quercifolia or other old wood bloomers, you can reduce or even eliminate any flowering potential by unnecessary pruning.

Melissa, STOP pruning your hydrangeas! You are cutting off the blooms for the next spring and summer. If you find the old blossoms unattractive then cut them off the branch just below the place where they are attached to the branch. Hydrangeas do no want to be pruned! Annabelle is the ONLY exception and can be cut down to 4 - 6 inches. Stop pruning (torturing) the plants for one year and you will see how beautiful they will be. The Golden Crane has NEVER been pruned, trimmed or snipped! Pruning hydrangeas does not encourage blooms just ruins the shrub.

Does anyone know if Aeshia, or Fragrant Splash hydrangea are very fragrant?

How fragrant is Ayesia and Fr as grant Splash?

I do not prune my Golden Crane - it is almost 15 feet tall and I love it. I can see the beautiful blossoms from my chair at the dinner table in the kitchen. Yes, the branches out of the center seem to go straight up. Mine is just getting ready to bloom and will hold blossoms for almost three months. And, it is fragrant - we can smell it drifting into the kitchen! The plant is at the bottom of the stairs to the first floor of the house so that is why it is so tall. It is also covering up the space under the deck - lots of storage stuff - and blocks the mess beautifully from the garden. Ayesha does not have a fragrance at all - at least in my garden. My fragrant Splash hydrangea does have a light fragrance and is in bloom right now in my Shoreline garden. We are just north of Seattle, Washington.

Gleidecker, here are some pics of my Splash and Golden Crane just shot this morning. The Splash is rambling among several other hydrangeas in this side garden. The 'splash' on the leaves is quite random and I think that is the charm of this plant. It does have a soft fragrance today and might be more pronounced if the weather was warmer. Splash is not sold often and the tag on this one said it was for the collector! lol It is from a special nursery and grower. The nursery is no longer in business which makes this plant even more precious.

The Golden Crane is getting taller and taller and I am going to leave it to see just how tall it can get. The top pink marker on the rebar is 8 feet.

Ayesha is one of my favorites and always is noticed by visitors. We call it 'popcorn hydrangea' and people always remember that name.The color is very changeable depending on the soil and two plants - one a clone of the other are just 30 feet apart and one is pink and the other blue. The pink one is right by the heat exchanger on a cement platform. They both get full sun most of the day.

Does anyone know where I can purchase a Golden Crane® Hydrangea (Hydrangea angustipetala ‘MonLongShou’? 🙏🏼🌿🙏🏼

Beautiful. Do you know where I can purchase one?

Monrovia no longer carries this plant. In fact, I am not aware of this selection being available anywhere other than than through sales from Dan Hinkley's private nursery, Windcliff. And Dan doesn't do mail order, only onsite sales and pre-pandemic, local plant sales.

I agree with gardengal48, I have not seen it for sale anywhere locally or online for quite some time. I suspect it fell out of favor and will not be sold anymore. I would try finding someone who grows it and could share cuttings since Hydrangeas generally propagate easily from cuttings.

Thank you all for your help.

i got mine from Pheonix Perennials in Vancouver B.C.

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