It is common mophead (but not thaat common) with dark black stems. Similar to Abracadabra, Midnight Duchess (originated from Nigra), Lady In Red (but that last one has dark red-ish stems), etc. There are probably others like that but I can't think of the names. There is no issue with the stems that anyone has reported. They usually bloom on old wood.

The splotches on the leaves that you saw would be another story. Could be hydrangea leaf spot. Mopheads make these leaf spot infestations visible this time of the year as they prepare to shutdown for the season. If it looks bad or not good enough, see if they will give you a discount. Or wait until next year to see if they get more new ones and then buy those. The infection is usually caused when the nursery waters the leaves and places the pots close to one another. If it does not look too bad and you do mind this issue at this time every year and they will discount them a little, I would go for it.

The look of the black stems is very nice, especially in Spring with the "new" shade of green that the leaves have in Spring.

To find others who already have one of these varieties, do a forum search for "nigra" or "abracadabra", etc.l then send them a Gardenweb Mail.

One hint with the stems that tend to change color back to "normal": grow the plant for the stems and not for the blooms (see details in the link below: scroll down to 'how to handle it'). Note: I have not heard of this issue with the others ones that I mentioned above but perhaps it is because not too many are sold so few people post about this subject... or maybe they do not have this problem. I have not seen Nigra locally, only in the Northeast.

http://www.louistheplantgeek.com/a-gardening-journal/481-hydrangea-macrophylla-nigra

thanks Louis - you sort of confirmed my first thought - I have Lady in Red and many in my collection and think I will pass on this one. Almost all H. turn blue in my garden and other than the stems - will not add anything spectacular. If I had a spot near the edge where the stems could be seen up close that would be different.Going to check out your site right now.

After reading your wonderful description of the plant I am sure I made the right decision! Will be back to your site - great information.

That is not you?

No. Someone else in the Northeast.

Luis, should have figured that out for myself - oops! lol Our rain finally arrived and the hydrangeas are looking really happy in the garden. The cooler weather also helped perk up some of the droopers and new buds are setting for next year. Will post some pics later this weekend - the Fuji Falls is still blooming! Hope all is well in your garden.

Rain over in PNW? Here too. Heck of a few years in the garden. Plants are probably confused this year in my garden.

We were not California dry but the lakes were down to 30-50%. The calls were for conservation because we would not be able to recover from the drought for years; it had slowly started as a mild drought at first and then more problematic the last two years. So the calls went to not do this and that. And then the 'do not xxx' orders because there would be no way to fill the lakes for years and years so conserve, conserve, conserve.

Then this Spring, the spigot opens and for 3 months, we get so much rain that the lakes are overflowing by June-ish or so. Incredible. Drought monitor puts us back to normal.

Then in June-ish, it gets dry with maybe half the normal amt of rain in the summer. Then Fall starts, still with less rain than normal but with temps still in the 90s. The drought monitor put us in severe drought mode again.

And last week, it changes again. We got 8" last week in 2.5 days. I thought that was going to be it for a while. Then on Friday, I remembered a potted hydrangea that might need water after three days of no rain, cooler temps and -oops- no watering. Kerboom! It rained all day Friday from 5am on forward. A few breaks here and there but it is s t i l l raining. This El Nino sure is confusing the plants and me. I no longer know what to expect rain wise. Rain expected thru Sunday.

I am afraid it may mess up Halloween and I have all this candy!!!!! Rain means less kids asking for candy'; I do not want to have to eat the leftover candy and my hydrangeas will not eat candy either!!! Only the dogs offered to eat the leftover candy but that is no-no with me. Ha. ;o)

Enjoy the Fuji bloomage. Most of my blooms are brown now but all the plants are still green. Saw some oakleaf hydrangeas at a nursery and almost bought some. I had to restrain myself because I do not have much shaded space and had no idea where to put them! Ha!

Happy Halloween!

I am growing H. m. 'Nigra' in Surrey, BC, Canada, zone 8. It grows well here, disease free. I've been growing it for six years, have successfully taken many cuttings. It looks good together with my other 129 hydrangeas!

I got rid of it because it never bloomed. "Louis the Plant Geek" (good blog) believes it is worth growing even if never blooms and prunes it often to keep lots of bold black stems coming.

Five years ago I felt I didn't have the real estate to justify a big (at least 4 x 5) plant that didn't bloom. Now my garden is 2 x bigger but I still don't love it enough to get another one. Maybe if it had wonderful fall foliage like oakleafs I would. I don't usually get all the blossoms those promise, but the fall color justifies their place in the garden.

Thank you Nimchee - 129 hydrangeas? Quite a collection - sounds really beautiful!! Think I will wait a bit to try it - a lot of my hydrangeas are pretty new - and I am not sure how much space they will need in the next few years.
Marie, too much real estate to devote to black stems was my thought. For interesting twiggy looks we are adding conifers, viburnums, Japanese maples and other black stemmed or evergreen perennials. But, if someone gave me a couple of cuttings I am sure I would find a place to propagate them. (smile)

Which conifers, vibirnums and JMs have you added or are planning to add? You know that some vibirnums produce bloomage similar to that of hydrangeas?

Luis, ophoenix - Shirley - has a stunning woodland garden. She lives on the edge of a ravine abutting a greenbelt so a wonderful natural backdrop for an amazing assortment of shade lovers, including a vast collection of hydrangeas. And the top of the ravine is quite open and mostly sunny so an opportunity to grow plants that prefer stronger light. She is a dear gardening friend and not one to toot her own horn but her garden is magnificent and has been on garden tours. And her son is the propagator at a major local private botanical garden so there's no end to the assortment of great and often rare plants one can find in her garden. And that she generously shares with others :-))

Finally got out to check the names of some of the new conifers that we have added. Several Hinoki cypress - Reis Dwarf, and others - I will take photos if I can't find the tags - tow Cupressus glabra - Arizona cypress 'Chaparral' and another species, a Chamaecyparis obusa 'Fernspray Gold', x3 and Cryptomeria japonica 'Elagans Nana', and Uncle Fogy (Black Pine). The viburnums are one very old cultivar of Snow Ball - small balls and covered this spring and Eskimo - just brought in and several are still healed in but several others got potted into gallons. Sorry about the spelling, but I need my reading glasses to read the tags and computer glasses to check the input! lol Can take pics if anyone is interested.

Sure, I am interested. I like conifers and vibirnums. Take your time. No hurry.

ophoenix, I'd be quite interested in seeing some photos of your garden, either posted here or a link to where some have been shared elsewhere. It sounds wonderful!

I did see some of your photos in the thread about fall color in Hydrangeas.

Here is a link to a new cloud server for my photo editor Zoner. Hopefully it will work. It was pouring like he## today and very dark so we will have to try these photos of the garden that were taken in spring '14. Lots of changes since then but it will give an idea. The rock terrace work was all in when we bought the house but almost no plants except the trees and a few rhodies. We put in some of the flag stone paths, lower steps and all handrails. All hydrangeas and other woodlands were added over the last ten years. The front garden - strip next to sidewalk - was all roses, geraniums and annuals 5 years ago. lol Every garden in the development has or had one of the maples - but most are sheared into an ugly mushroom shape. In fact - most of the other gardens have landscapes pruned by shearing the trees and shrubs into squares, globes and grown up bonsai.

Hope the link works Link to sps garden

Worked for me - you can turn off the orange band by clicking the X on the right side of the band.

Thanks so much, ophoenix! The foliage combos, the transition to the greenbelt, the integration of the hardscape with the plantings and the flowers are all absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you NHBabs! Here are the new dwarf - mostly - conifers and dwarf maple with a few artsy shots of the maple.

Click to follow link Sorry I did not have the tags or time to label each one...... My favorites are the Hinoke cypress and Uncle Fogy who looks like an uncle at the table who has had too much to drink! lol

The maple has such a gorgeous shape! I like the range of shape, color, and texture on the conifers. Always fun to see photos of others' gardens, so thanks.