Bombshell Hydrangea
Hydrangea paniculata 'Bombshell' (PP #21,008)
Bombshell Hydrangea
Hydrangea paniculata 'Bombshell' (PP #21,008)
How are the heights measured?
All tree, and nothin' but the tree! We measure from the top of the soil to the top of the tree; the height of the container or the root system is never included in our measurements.
What is a gallon container?
Nursery containers come in a variety of different sizes, and old-school nursery slang has stuck. While the industry-standard terminology is to call the sizes "Gallon Containers", that doesn't exactly translate to the traditional liquid "gallon" size we think of. You'll find we carry young 1-gallons, up to more mature 7-gallons ranging anywhere from 6 inches to 6ft.
How does the delivery process work?
All of our orders ship via FedEx Ground! Once your order is placed online, our magic elves get right to work picking, staging, boxing and shipping your trees. Orders typically ship out within 2 business days. You will receive email notifications along the way on the progress of your order, as well as tracking information to track your plants all the way to their new home!
Why are some states excluded from shipping?
The short & sweet answer is: "United States Department of Agriculture Restrictions." Every state has their own unique USDA restrictions on which plants they allow to come into their state. While we wish we could serve everyone, it's for the safety of native species and helps prevent the spread of invasive disease & pests. We've gotta protect good ole' Mother Nature, after all.
About Me
-
The Bombshell Hydrangea is a miniature version of the PG Hydrangea, perfect for smaller spaces where months of flower on an easy plant are needed. It is cold-hardy even in zone 3, where most other hydrangeas won’t grow, and its white flowers begin to appear in mid-summer, when other shrubs are stopping flowering. They continue to grow and remain on the plant, turning first pale pink, and later, in the colder days, turning red. This plant brings color and interest for months, yet it is so easy to grow it takes care of itself. It grows just 3 feet tall, so it fits anywhere. Plant one in a smaller garden, or a group in a larger bed. Use it in planters and pots, or as an edging plant along a bed, path or driveway.
- Rounded globes of flowers in white, turning pink and red
- Perfect miniature of the classic PG hydrangea
- Fast-growing and just 3 feet tall
- Very cold-hardy where other hydrangeas won’t grow
- Thrives in ordinary soil in sun or shade
Plant the Bombshell Hydrangea is full sun or partial shade in cooler states, and in partial to light full-shade in warmer areas. It grows well in any garden soil, and only needs a quick trim once a year in early spring. It has no pests or diseases, and it needs almost nothing from you to thrive and grow, bringing lots of interest exactly when other plants have stopped flowering. In containers use a regular potting soil, and water when the top inch of soil has become dry. Always have drainage holes in your pots and planter boxes.
- Plant Hardiness Zones 3-8
- Mature Width 3-4
- Mature Height 2-3
- Sun Needs Partial Sun, Shade
The PG hydrangea is a greatly-loved summer and fall flowering shrub that has been a garden standard for many, many years, especially in colder regions. Hardy to zone 3, easy to grow, shade tolerant, and flowering late in the year when other spring and summer flowers are over, this plant grows into a large shrub, perhaps 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, in time. With the spread of smaller gardens, it is simply too large for more and more of us to grow. But now we don’t have to worry about that, because the Bombshell Hydrangea has come along – a perfect miniature copy of the big old PG hydrangea – and this one grows only 3 feet tall and wide, fitting perfectly into smaller spaces, or making perfect foreground planting in bigger ones. It has the same panicles of white flowers, that turn pink to red as the colder fall weather arrives, and it is just as hardy and just as easy to grow. Problem solved.
Growing Bombshell Hydrangeas
The Bombshell Hydrangea is a small deciduous shrub, growing 2 or 3 feet tall, with a slightly wider spread of 3 or perhaps 4 feet. It makes a dense cluster of mounding branches, with a bushy habit. The leaves are a little less than 3 inches long, and 1½ inches wide, oval, with small serrations along the edges. They are mid-green in color, turning butter yellow in fall. The stems are light brown, with a slightly peeling bark, and rougher and darker brown on older stems. Flowering begins in mid-summer, and the flowers grow on the ends of every new shoot, so as new shoots form, more flowers develop, keeping your plant flowering continuously right into fall.
The flower heads form a slightly pointed ball, about 5 inches across, containing up to 300 white flowers of two types. Most are flat, with white petals, and mixed among them are tiny fluffy flowers. The whole effect is beautiful, with the flowers beginning life a delightful pale green color, becoming pure white with a tiny pink center for summer, and then gradually turning pink and then red, so that your white bush in summer becomes a red bush in fall. Even in winter, after the flower heads have turned light brown, they remain on the plant and provide winter interest.
Uses on Your Property
Plant the Bombshell Hydrangea as a small specimen in a small place. It is ideal for pots and planters too, bringing lots of color and interest for very little work. A group of them will look perfect in the foreground of a bed of larger shrubs, or even as an edging plant all along a walk or driveway. In sun or shade, there is always somewhere in every garden where this plant will bring pleasure and interest.
Planting and Initial Care
Not only is the Bombshell Hydrangea beautiful for months and months, it is very easy to grow. It is hardy down to minus 40 degrees, and yet it grows well in zone 8 – so wherever you live it doesn’t matter, this plant will grow for you. It grows in full sun in colder states, in partial shade everywhere, and in light full shade in hotter states. It grows well in almost any kind of soil at all, except for constantly wet ones, or very dry, hot locations.
It is fast growing, and it has no pests or diseases that cause any problems, so it is very low maintenance too, a necessity for many of us with busy lives, a love of flowers, but little time for our gardens. Even pruning is not essential, but your plant will benefit from a trim in late winter or early spring, before the buds open. Remove any crowded and very thin stems, and trim back the remaining stronger stems by a few inches, to a pair of healthy buds. That’s it – a quick and simple once-a-year job.
History and Origins of the Bombshell Hydrangea
The panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), is a native plant of China and Japan, where it can be a small tree 20 feet tall, although usually it is smaller. The wild plant has fine, airy and inconspicuous flowers, but a garden form that came from Japan was introduced into Europe and North America in the 1870’s. Hydrangeas have two kinds of flowers – small, fertile ones that make seeds but have no petals, and large, sterile ones that make petals but no seeds. These are mixed together in the flower heads and wild flowers are mostly the small fertile flowers, so they are not very showy.
This new Japanese form was excitingly different, with mostly sterile flowers, making large and showy flower heads. This is the common PG hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’) which we mentioned earlier. It is grown in nurseries and gardens everywhere. In 2003 Alex Frederik Schoemaker; a Dutch nurseryman in Boskoop, an important plant-growing region of the Netherlands, noticed an unusual shoot on a plant of the PG hydrangea in his nursery. When he grew it into new young plants, he realized it was a perfect miniature, and he called this new plant ‘Bombshell’. In 2010 he was given a US Plant Patent for it.
Our plants are grown under license from the inventor, to high standards that ensure they are exact copies of that original plant, and they are grown from stem pieces, not seeds. We know this new plant will be in high demand, because everyone loves the PG hydrangea, but many of us don’t have room for it. So order now, while our stocks hold out.