Hydrangea Annabelle Finally Coming of Age

I first received this plant in May 2008. It was hard to believe that such a little slip of a plant had the potential of becoming such a beautiful large shrub.

Hydrangea Annabelle Hydrangea arborescens

It has taken three years to get its first blooms. Now, finally, the long awaited moment is upon us. Hydrangea Annabelle’s first blooms. Well, almost. Okay, maybe I'm pushing it just a bit. I feel like this photo is one of those scanner pictures that baby doctors take of expectant mothers. A baby in the womb sort of thing. But I just know its gonna be big, really big. These little buds can get up to 12" across. This thing is, what, maybe 1" across.

First bloom?

Anyway, this plant is pretty rare around Utah. At least to me it is. In all my travels throughout this state I have found but a handful. I was beginning to think it would be too much trouble to get it to grow here, much less get it to bloom.

The shrub is a remnant of a memory from my childhood. My grandmother had one of these proudly displayed in her front yard. I remember walking up the pathway to her front door and this thing just about covered the whole front porch. And the fragrance was heaven. This one is sitting right next to our back deck and I simply cannot wait to get a whiff of it when we are sitting out there eating supper or just relaxing.

I've actually tried growing two other hydrangea at this house and neither made it past the first winter. I'm either getting better at prepping the planting hole or my luck is simply changing. Either way I was ecstatic when  I saw these blooms forming.

Any day now I'm going to look over the deck railing and see this starring back at me:

This photo comes from www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com