Hydrangea macrophylla Beauté Vendômoise

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Beauté Vendômoise' is a wonderful hydrangea dating back to 1908. It is vigorous, of beautiful stature, and as elegant as it is spectacular. It is the perfect showcase specimen for the garden. In summer, it produces slightly domed fragrant inflorescences, as large as they are light. These lace doilies are placed on rounded vegetation with a very natural appearance. Depending on the nature of the soil, the florets will be blue and white or pale-pink, but invariably composed of tiny fertile flowers surrounded by larger, lighter sterile florets, mimicking clovers. It will fully reveal its potential in a shaded and cool exposure, in non-limestone soil, conditions that will reveal its beauty without artifice.

Hydrangeas are hardy plants belonging to the Hydrangeaceae family and originate from China, Japan, and North America. Hydrangea macrophylla 'Beauté Vendômoise' is an excellent French creation by Emile Mouillères. This variety has a rather rounded, somewhat irregular, dome-shaped habit. It reaches about 2.25m (7ft) in all directions when mature, sometimes 3m (10ft) if growing conditions are perfect. From July to October, its small fertile and sterile flowers, with striking dimorphism, form flattened inflorescences of 25cm (9in) in diameter, with visible petioles. They are composed of a heart of fertile florets resembling buds, surrounded by a crown of sterile florets formed by 4 large petals. Their colour depends on the acidity of the soil, ranging from bright blue to mauve for the fertile florets and from whitish-blue to very pale-pink for the sterile florets. The flowering period extends over bright green foliage. The leaves are opposite, reaching a minimum length of about 20cm (8in). They are simple, ovate to elliptical, ending in a pointed tip, and are coarsely dentate like a saw. Hydrangeas can live for at least 50 years.

'Beauté Vendômoise' is a magnificent plant that will become the centrepiece of a shaded garden. It will find its place in a large shrub bed, at the bend of a pathway, or as a standalone feature in a small garden. Hydrangeas are well-known for brightening the north side of houses. This one will thrive in an east or north exposure, far from the scorching rays of the summer sun. This variety will bring a lot of charm to slightly darker areas or near a somewhat hidden entrance. Although these plants dislike limestone, hydrangeas are not strictly acid-loving plants. Mix them with each other, with magellanica fuchsias, annual impatiens, and lilies, or plant spring-flowering bulbs in front of their round silhouette. Enjoy their sumptuous flowering in the garden or indoors for a long time.

Note: The colour of the flowers of macrophylla hydrangeas varies depending on the soil pH. Traditionally blue varieties turn pink in neutral or alkaline soil. To maintain a beautiful blue colour, mix ericaceous soil with your garden soil and apply aluminium sulphate (slate contains it) or alum stone every spring.