Oak-Leaved Hydrangea
Hydrangea quercifolia is (apparently) a super-stylish shrub to grow. It's an oak-leaved hydrangea, with beautifully shaped summer flowers and beautifully coloured oak-like autumn leaves.
Oak Leaf Hydrangea
My two shrubs struggled initially, and seemed to be slow to gain in size. Like my other hydrangeas, they responded well to discrete (and indiscrete) watering sessions. The flower-heads are elongated and creamy white in colour. The shrubs have a natural shape and might appear slightly messy in a controlled garden space. Not, thankfully, in mine!
Oak-Leaf Hydrangea
Oak Leaf Hydrangea Leaves
In my early gardening days I was hugely influenced by English garden writers, and I remember this shrub being given a high style score. In 2009 I enjoyed an early summer holiday in Washington DC. After seeing how expansively these shrubs grow in private and public gardens there, I was green with envy. My shrubs were very lightweight in comparison.
So it's taken them about fifteen years to become properly established (with minimal pruning - I just pull off the dried seed-heads and cut out the dead wood). But I really love the random directions in which their leaves and flowerheads grow. They are definitely free-spirited shrubs, and well worth waiting for.