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Identity of wild hydrangea

18 years ago

First, I don't know the ethics of what I've done, but here goes: over Father's Day weekend, the kids and I drove from Atlanta to a friend's mountain cabin, just outside of Waynesville, North Carolina. What I assume to be wild hydrangeas were growing all along the mountain roads, and extending quite far back into the hillside. The leaves look exactly like my Penny Mac mophead, but the blooms are very small, about 1.5-2". They are white and not globelike. They spread upward on bare, thin stalks and bloom only at the top. They sort of remind me of the canopy of an African Acacia tree. I carefully dug up about a dozen of these plants and transplanted them to my back yard. I just checked on them yesterday and most already show new leaf growth. I'd like to know if these are, in fact, hydrangeas, and what they're called.

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Comments (8)

yellowgirl
18 years ago
Can you post a picture?....It would be interesting to see....yg
jeff_al
18 years ago
sounds like hydrangea arborescens.

Here is a link that might be useful: smooth hydrangea
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Thanks for all the guesses. I'm on my way to go take a picture. I'd say its some sort of cone flower because that is what it looks like, but the leaves are wrong on all the photos I've seen 'googling' :-) I'll post a pic or 2 tomorrow. Dorothy
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razorback33
18 years ago
If the flowers are flat and have small tepals around the edge, with the fertile florets in the center, they could be Hydrangea radiata, which is a native species in that area of NC. You can identify by checking the underside of the leaves, which shoud be a silvery-white. Photo on site below.
Rb

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea radiata
Hyperboy
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for the replies.
Yellowgirl, I didn't take pictures at the time. The plants are now severly pruned back with barely a leaf.
Razorback33, thanks for your suggestion, but I think Jeff al NAILED it. Jeff, you're picture looks exactly like the plants I found in NC. Hydrangea arborescens it is.
Thanks.
Hyperboy
Hyperboy
Original Author
18 years ago
My hydrangeas are SO drastically pruned, even the last "e" in "severely" was cut.
Hyperboy
Iris GW
18 years ago
By the way, deer find these to be extremely tasty! I have a couple of wild hydrangeas that are constantly being munched down. But then they like oakleaf hydrangea too, so maybe the whole species is tasty ....
Hyperboy
Original Author
18 years ago
Just a follow-up on the wild Hydrangea arborescens I transplanted from the mountains of northern Georgia to my backyard in Atlanta: They're ALL showing signs of new leaf growth. I've been watering them regularly and keep an eye on them, but I'm still suprised that I'm batting 1000%.
yellowgirl
18 years ago
Way to go!!.....yg

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