Choosing Shrubs for Your Yard

-Hydrangeas are some of the most popular flowers around. With their big flower heads and candy colors, it??s easy to see why and it??s beautiful as they are. Hydrangeas can be confusing because there are different kinds that like different spots in the garden. One of the easiest to put out was Annabelle. It??s sometimes called Snowball Bush. It shows off big puffy flower heads that start out pure white and fade to green. It begins blooming in late June and continues intermittently throughout the summer. It??s native to areas of North America and can be come back to the ground in early spring without affecting its blooms. Annabelle grows in sun or shade. While Annabelle is pure white, there are pink flower and varieties too. Invincible Spirit and Bella Anna both sport pink flowers and have the same easy to grow nature. Oakleaf Hydrangeas are another North American native variety. They feature big, course leaves that are great for adding texture to the garden. They??ll grow well in afternoon shade and hot summer areas. They bloom on one-year-old stems so the best time to cut them back is in midsummer. Oakleaf Hydrangeas feature fantastic fall color and cool peeling bark in addition to beautiful blooms. Panicle Hydrangeas are becoming more popular than ever, thanks to varieties like Limelight and Vanilla Strawberry. These Hydrangeas do best in fall [unk] and moist well-drained soil. They start blooming in July and can continue through fall. All have white flowers but many will blush to pink as the blooms aged. They are also pretty big. The old PeeGee Hydrangea can get more than 20-feet tall. Most of the newer varieties stand around 5 feet to 10 feet.