Gardeners have a saying which I’m certain you’ve heard many times, “Perennials creep, sleep, then leap”.  In other words, be patient.  Let the plant settle in, put down some roots and get comfortable in its new home.  However, some perennials take much longer than others to “leap”. Such was the case with the climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolis) I found in 2017.

Its tag said part sun / part shade and I’m always desperate to find plants besides the hostas, ferns and astilbes which dominate my very shady gardens.  I was delighted to bring it home and planted it in a “not-quite-as-shady-as- most-places-spot”.  It would at least receive reflected light from the driveway.  I watered it in and hoped for the best.

After about two years, the tiny climbing hydrangea had sent out a few exploratory tendrils and had attached itself to the block retaining wall next to it (see Photo 1).  The tendrils actually grow hairy, aerial rootlets which attach to any supporting surface (see Photo 2).  The plant is deciduous, losing its glossy, heart-shaped leaves each fall (at least in my growing zone 6b).

The progress was less than slow – I mean it was REALLY slow.  I began to think that I’d failed another plant by planting it in too much shade and expecting a miracle.

The third year, the climbing hydrangea had crept horizontally along the block wall a few feet.  In an excess of optimism, I placed a four-foot-tall metal trellis over it and arranged its branches through the lower bars of the trellis.

Fourth year, there was a bit more progress, a few more branches to arrange on the trellis.  The fifth year was a huge surprise!  That plant started growing like the giant beanstalk.  It even flowered for the first time (granted, it was only one cluster of white flowers and on the back side of the plant) (see Photo 3) – I was vindicated.

This year, it had numerous, beautiful white clusters of blooms.  I’ve started judiciously pruning back the more rampant growth.  There’s no way I’m going to be able to free that trellis from underneath the hydrangea, so it will have to stay put and let me keep it in bounds.

I don’t know what the moral of this story is…maybe Winston Churchill said it best, “Never, never, never give up!”

Stay Green, Good Friends!