Plant name: ‘Tardiva’ hydrangea
Botanical name:Hydrangea paniculata ‘Tardiva’
Virtues: A quick-growing, free-flowering, fairly rugged hydrangea with large flowers that bloom in creamy white beginning in July and age to purplish pink through August and September. Blooms when many plants and shrubs have finished.
Flowers: Cone-shaped panicles (branched flower structures) that start out creamy white and turn purplish pink over time.
Habit: Upright deciduous shrub, 8 to 12 feet tall and 7 to 10 feet wide.
Season: Midsummer to autumn.
Cultivation: Prefers well-drained soil and full sun to part shade. Otherwise adaptable to a range of conditions. Flower buds form on new wood, so prune in late winter or early spring. Pruning the shrub so it has just 5 to 10 shoots produces larger flowers. USDA Zones 3–8.
Image courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder
