No but Garden Debut has an althea/hibiscus with a similar name.

Are you sure you have the right name? Is there a patent name (as opposed to the trade name) on the tag? I found a berry white and a strawberry shake H. paniculata, but no berry smoothie.

Actually, I'm wrong. The correct name is "Berry White".

Ooohhh, that does look fantastic and another plant for the wish list !!

It seems to be a 6-7' tall, 4-5' wide paniculata. Nothing very unusual that I could tell but it is late and I am sleepy. Very little info on the webpage, compared to other vendors. It mentioned something about strong upright stems but I have seen better upright bloom pictures of Pinky Winky for example. No info on approximate bloom sizes; maybe PW gets around flopping by having smaller (less weight) blooms.

Also, many of the blooms in the main picture appear to have a very nice two-tone color: pink in the bottom and white on top... as if the picture was taken in mid-blooming season. Makes me think of VS. There is also a picture showing the spent blooms when they all have turned dark pink-ish and a few nice close ups. No pics of the blooms when they are all white (recently opened).

The main picture on the webpage shows a shrub with lots of blooms on the top, then a band of green, suggesting no blooms in the middle or flopping of blooms... Then another bunch of blooms below the green that may be flopping. Not sure about all this "very upright" claim... the picture gave me the impression that, while bloomless stems may not flop and while stems with blooms at the very top do not flop, there is still flopping... blooms slightly below the top ones seem to be "looking towards/straight at the camera"..

I would like to know the dimensions (how tall, how wide) of that bush in the picture. The given dimensions on the webpage suggest a shrub that grows upright (6-7') more than it grows sideways (4-5') but, the shrub in the picture seems to be very wide and not that tall. Hmm, just had a thought... maybe there are two shrubs in there... so close though, maybe they were going for the hedge look...

http://www.firsteditionsplants.com/berry-white-hydrangea

I found another webpage with more info. This one compares the shrub to Vanilla Strawberry and Strawberry Sundae. I assume therefore that it was developed as a competitor to Strawberry Sundae.

http://www.baileynurseries.com/first-editions-berry-white-hydrangea

Also developed in Gorron, France (where VS originated from... Gorron is in the northwest corner of the country). Here is some patent info:

"The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea paniculata and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘RENBA’. ‘RENBA’ represents a new deciduous shrub grown for landscape use.

The new Hydrangea resulted from a controlled breeding program that commenced in 1987 in Gorron, France. ‘RENBA’ was derived from crosses made in 2007 between unnamed
proprietary Hydrangea paniculata plants (not patented) from the Inventor's breeding program and the seeds from the crosses where pooled therefore the exact parentage is unknown. ‘RENBA’ was selected as a single unique plant in 2009 from amongst the
resulting seedlings.

Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by softwood cuttings in 2009 by the Inventor in Gorron, France. Asexual propagation by softwood cuttings has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations."

The following things are listed as making it unique in the patent: upright, well-branched plant habit; strong, erect branches; a long bloom period (but that would be July-Oct in Gorron's very mild summers); blooms with panicles of flowers that emerge white in color changing to pink and maturing to a deep pink to red color (not sure why this makes it unique by itself... as many paniculatas do similarly but, hmmm, maybe the shade of pink or dark pink is different/unique in Gorron's mild summers); large and full panicles.

I started to say :), the only 'Berry Smoothie' I know of is a heuchera.

'Berry White'.........hmmm, I would expect it to start singing to me in a very deep, sexy voice :-) Oh wait, that's Barry White!! LOL!!

Here are the patent details, which should provide relatively accurate size and performance details: Plant patent Hydrangea paniculata 'RENBA'. But note that the patent was only granted last year so not a very long time to establish any sort of reliable information IMO.

Bella, great find , great price , Enjoy

Thanks Luis for all of the great info. GG, you're right, with a name like that I would expect some soothing soulful tunes - love his voice and beautiful ballads. Hyed, thanks. I agree. Great price for sure. I'll have to post a pic. The color is really stunning in the container.

The patent grant date does not really have anything to do with how long a plant has been around. The deadline to file is based off the first date of sales or offer for sales or publicly shown. In this case, it looks like the cross was made in 2007 and the plant selected in 2009.

Given imported Hydrangeas from Europe have to go through quarantine in the USA and it is now on the market, my guess would be this plant has been in North America for a while.