Hydrangea Wee Bit Innocent™ Bigleaf Hydrangea

A Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Flowering Shrubs variety, Hydrangea Wee Bit Innocent™ is a deciduous shrub that blooms and reblooms on old wood in summer. The luscious mopheads on this compact bigleaf hydrangea (H. macrophylla) definitely have the Wow! factor with their large, rounded clusters of double florets, which display pink or blue shades depending on the pH of the soil. Held aloft fleshy dark green foliage on strong stems, the long-lasting flowers make excellent cuts for fresh and dried arrangements.

After the first frost, the flower clusters turn tan to caramel, and along with the shredding and peeling papery brown bark on mature plants that reveal glimpses of the underlying cinnamon hue of stems and branches, they add a textural element to the winter garden, especially pleasing in a snowy landscape. The hollow stems also provide nesting habitats for bees.

With cain-like growth, this multistemmed, suckering shrub has a mounded habit and a rapid growth rate. The shrub's compact size is perfect for a container, and it makes a great specimen plant, but it's shown to best effect when grouped or massed and is especially nice in mixed beds and borders.

A shade-friendly shrub, easy to grow and maintain, hydrangea grows best in partially sunny locations with rich, moist, well-draining soil. Morning sun and afternoon shade typically works well. It can tolerate more sun if the soil is kept consistently moist. Wee Bit Innocent is bred to be disease resistant.

Hydrangea macrophylla change colors with the pH of the soil, turning pink in alkaline soil and blue in acid soils.