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Gatsby Moon hydrangea questions

10 years ago

I went ahead and purchased five gatsby moon oak leaf hydrangeas. My thought was to place then along the east side of the woods around my house. I'm in zone 6 and noticed I cannot find anyone else that has these in the region or much information on them in general. I was hoping to see 6ft tall / wide but would be happier with larger.


Full sun in the mornings should be ok for these right?


Does anyone actually have this cultivar and know how large it grows?

Comments (12)

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Introduced by Proven Winners, it gets between 6-8 feet tall-wide per their information in this link:

    https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/hydrangea/gatsby-moon-oakleaf-hydrangea-hydrangea-quercifolia

    Provided you do not prune, it should get there. Full sun in the mornings will be just fine. Enjoy the Fall Foliage!

  • 10 years ago

    They should be fine and actually happy in a semi-wooded setting in zone 6, minus deer (you'll want nets in the winter or else they'll eat the dormant flower buds, and in-season you'll want spray repellent). They're supposed to get 6-8' tall and wide at maturity, which puts this at medium size for an oakleaf. People seem to have mixed results with actual growth rates. These bloom on old growth from at or near the ends of the stems. Harsh winters (with nights approaching -20) have been known to kill back some old wood but late freezes don't really affect these like they do the macrophyllas.

    What size pot/plant did you buy and where from? I just ordered a 1-gal from Home Depot online.


  • 10 years ago

    I purchased them also from Home Depot online. I originally was waiting for 'Alice', but saw these and thought I would give them a try. I live in a neighborhood addition and we have too many deer to count come through the woods. The most my wife and I have seen at one time is 14.


    We had two previous winters with -20 but those were supposed to be anomalous. Last year I think 8 was the coldest day.


    If these struggle would anyone recommend bottlebrush?

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Not really, Bottlebrush down here in Texas with our mild winters, it always was "deciduous" came back from the ground.so it did not grow that much. In my old kneck of the woods though, it was a tree two stories high.

  • 10 years ago

    Luis where is old neck of the woods? I'm in zone 6a where I think it would do well, maybe a variety?? that doesn't sucker so much?

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    'Old neck of the woods' was Puerto Rico.

    Down here in Texas, it dries out during winter once temps hit the freezing mark. It is a tropical shrub so it cannot handle the cold well. But in warmer zones, you can get something even bigger than this:

    http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/68052/

    Research Woodlander's Red to see if it is hardy to your zone. I learned about it late last year but have not seen it for sale locally yet. Container growing will work fine of course, provided you bring it inside during the winter. Bottlebrush Buckeye will be hardy but it does not bloom red like the usual bottlebrushes (it is a different plant family; the reds are part of a family called Callistemon somethingoranother).

    NWalton (Zone 6a) thanked luis_pr
  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    I was thinking Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) too since they are hardy and bloom reliably with white spikes (never thought much about them until I saw them in bloom at Atlanta Botanical Gardens last year). Red Horse Chestnut (Aesculus x carnea) would be cool too but they seem pricey.


    Some Bottlebrush Buckeye at ABG last summer. I had to go buy my own after seeing this.

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Very nice. I have not seen it for sale or in city gardens here. I wonder how it would do with our summer heat? I am located in "an invisible line" where some bushes start to peter out & others don't; I always blamed the heat.

  • 10 years ago

    Thanks Luis! I was thinking buckeye bottlebrush (Aesculus parviflora). It'll grow here in full sun. It's a plant from the south and is growable to zone 8.


    Hc mcdole where did you find buckeye bottlebrush to purchase? I've never seen it for sale around here but the local garden (Kingwood Center) has a nice stand of it growing near the entrance. I was shy of it at first because it looks like it can sucker. As the deer population explodes around here, it may be the best solution.

  • 10 years ago

    My gatsby moon oakleafs arrived!!

  • 10 years ago

    Good looking plants, aren't they?! I also ordered a 3-gallon Semme's Beauty because it was cheap.