Other Names:  Hydrangea macrophylla var.serrata

Description:

A phenomenally attractive shrub featuring showy white to light-pink lacecap flowers that turn more blue in acid soil; glowing, young gold leaves turn to bright green for the summer

Ornamental Features

Golden Sunlight Hydrangea features bold lilac purple lacecap flowers with white overtones at the ends of the branches from early to mid summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive light green deciduous foliage which emerges gold in spring. The fuzzy lobed leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding burgundy in the fall.

Landscape Attributes

Golden Sunlight Hydrangea is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its strikingly bold and coarse texture can be very effective in a balanced landscape composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Golden Sunlight Hydrangea is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Golden Sunlight 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. 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.

Golden Sunlight Hydrangea makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use 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.