Other Names:  Mountain Hydrangea

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

A very showy and compact re-blooming shrub featuring soft pink lacecap flowers, with waterlily-like double florets surrounding soft pink to bluish centers; blooms prolifically on new and old wood; more blue in acidic soil

Ornamental Features

Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha® Hydrangea is smothered in stunning shell pink lacecap flowers with powder blue centers at the ends of the branches from early summer to mid fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive dark green deciduous foliage. The serrated pointy leaves are highly ornamental but do not develop any appreciable fall color.

Landscape Attributes

Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha® Hydrangea is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a mounded form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should not require much pruning, except when necessary, such as to remove dieback. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha® Hydrangea is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha® Hydrangea will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It has a low canopy. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub performs well in both full sun and full shade. However, you may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. To help this plant achive its best flowering performance, periodically apply a flower-boosting fertilizer from early spring through into the active growing season. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for acidic soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha® Hydrangea makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.