Hydrangeas are the showstoppers for many a Southern garden. These beautiful flowering bushes will provide big, clusters of blossoms and verdant foliage all through the summer as long as they are given adequate shade, water, and fertilizer and protected from harsh afternoon sunlight. But even the star of your garden should have a supporting cast. You can enhance visual appeal, provide essential shade, and still keep your hydrangeas in the spotlight by adding companion plants.
If you haven’t planted your hydrangeas yet, you may want to consider placing them near existing trees of small to medium height so they can provide the essential shade for the flowering shrubs. Be careful when considering placement and digging the hole to plant shrubs near existing trees so you don’t nick or damage an existing root system. If your hydrangeas are already established, you may want to plant trees for shade such as dogwoods. Several varieties of dogwood grow to heights of 10-20 feet, just the right size to provide protective shade to neighboring hydrangeas. They also offer pretty blooms, attractive foliage and bark.
Taking the importance of shade into consideration, a wonderful companion plant for hydrangeas is the hosta. With a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors to choose from, hostas share hydrangea's love of morning sun and afternoon shade, and will thrive under the canopy of hydrangea foliage. The lush foliage of the hosta will serve as green canvas and background for your hydrangeas’ bursting blooms.
Since hydrangeas don’t bloom year-round, you’ll should plant an assortment of other plants that will blossom during the shrub’s dormant months to ensure long-lasting color. A combination of spring and summer flowering annuals that happily soak up the sun, like zinnias and snapdragons, can add more bright and bold colors to catch the eye. You may want to complement your hydrangeas’ blooms by planting flowers with similar hues or choose to create a more varied and vibrant palette with bright contrasting colors.
Ornamental grasses can add an understated elegance to your garden without shifting the focus from the flowering shrubs. These easy to grow grasses generally require little maintenance and subtly enhance the beauty of the flowers without calling attention to themselves. Tall fountain grass is a perfect anchor for the corners of your garden. This sun-lover has showy purple plumes that will sway in the breeze and provide light shade for the hydrangeas. Blue fescue, which has similar sun tolerance to hydrangeas and grows in 4-11” tall bluish-gray tufts makes for perfect edging.
By adding companion plants to your hydrangea garden, you not only enhance its visual appeal, you set the stage for a longer lasting show of beauty. Now, go see Dawn and the always amazing crew at ACE Garden Center and tell them what you need! They are always happy to provide helpful advice and tips of their own based on years of experience with island gardens.
