Smooth Hydrangea

Our smooth hydrangea is Hydrangea arborescens, the native hydrangea that flowers on new growth and carries big white flower clusters from late spring into summer. We ship it bare-root in 1-2, 2-3 and 3-4 foot sizes, in packs of 25, 50, 100 and 500, for foundation beds, shade borders, mass plantings and wholesale buyers.

Smooth Hydrangea Size, Zones and Sun

Smooth hydrangea is a modest shrub, about 3 to 5 feet tall and about as wide, and it's hardy in zones 3 to 9. Part shade suits it best. It'll take full sun too, but only if you can keep the soil from drying out. As for soil, it wants moisture and drainage together, leaning neutral to acidic. It copes with clay, loam, sand and thin rocky ground, so it isn't picky.

Smooth Hydrangea Blooms

Flat-topped clusters 2 to 8 inches across open from May into July, with scattered flowers into September. Each cluster is mostly tiny white fertile flowers with a few larger sterile ones around the edge. The plant blooms on new wood, so you can cut it back close to the ground in late winter and still get flowers, and that hard cut keeps growth vigorous. In early spring, take out any weak or damaged stems.

Smooth Hydrangea and Wildlife

Butterflies, moths, other pollinators and songbirds visit the plant, and it hosts the hydrangea sphinx moth. Our notes on wild hydrangea in its native habitat show how it grows outside a garden bed.

Where to Plant Smooth Hydrangea

Use it along shaded foundations, in woodland-edge borders, under tall trees, or massed on a slope, where a drift of 25 or 50 plants makes a real show. Our siting and drainage tips for commercial plantings cover spacing and soil. Ferns, hosta and native sedges make easy partners in shade, and the white blooms stand out against their foliage.

Good to Know About Smooth Hydrangea

Heavy flower heads can bend stems after a hard rain, especially on young plants, so plant where the stems have neighbors to lean on, or use a support ring. All parts of the plant are poisonous if eaten, which matters near play areas and pet runs. Keep the soil moist through the first summer.

Planting Smooth Hydrangea Bare-root

Soak the roots for an hour, then plant in a hole twice as wide as the root spread, with the crown level with the surrounding soil. Water well and mulch to keep the roots cool. If the plants arrive long and leggy, cut the stems back by about a third at planting so the roots can catch up.

Smooth Hydrangea in Mass Plantings

A pack of 25 plants set 3 feet apart fills about 225 square feet, and 100 plants cover roughly 900. The shrubs knit together into a low flowering hedge, and because they can be cut to the ground each late winter, upkeep comes down to one cut a year. White flowers also read well in partial shade.

Smooth Hydrangea Sizes, Packs and Shipping

Smooth hydrangea ships bare-root in November, in 1-2, 2-3 and 3-4 foot sizes and packs of 25, 50, 100 and 500. Volume pricing available. Browse more wholesale shrubs.