Hydrangeas are among the showiest flowering plants, dazzling with their ostentatious, colourful blooms and demanding your undivided attention. But with so many varieties out there, it can be difficult to know which hydrangea is right for your garden. Fear not, that’s where we come in. In this post, we’ll be providing you with a hydrangea for every want and horticultural need, from the best hydrangea to grow as a hedge, all the way to hydrangea picks for container growing.

Jump to:

• What is the best hydrangea for a small garden?
• What is the best hydrangea for a flowering hedge?
• What is the best hydrangea for cut flowers?
• What is the best hydrangea for acidic soil?
• What is the best hydrangea for alkaline soil?
• What is the best big-leaf hydrangea?
• What is the best lacecap hydrangea?
• What is the best mophead hydrangea?
• What is the best hydrangea for fragrance?

What is the best hydrangea for a small garden?

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Little Spooky’

If you’ve only got a little room to play with but want to make a big impact, then opt for a hydrangea like ‘Little Spooky’. A panicle variety, this plant boasts creamy flower cones with a chartreuse tinge, and importantly, grows to less than a metre tall and wide, making it an ideal pick for more space-limited gardens, patios and balconies. This diminutive stature also makes it a great selection for container growing, with our other mentions going to ‘Little Blue’, ‘Little Pink’ and ‘Little White’.

What is the best hydrangea for a flowering hedge?

Hydrangea arborescens 'Strong Annabelle'

If you want to make a flowering hedge, you could do a lot worse than picking out a vigorous hydrangea like ‘Strong Annabelle’. With absolutely massive snowball blooms each measuring up to 30cm in diameter – seriously – ‘Strong Annabelle’ is a shrub you can use to create a versatile hedge, offering both visual impact and a useful boundary for your garden. And trust us, when this powerhouse is in full bloom, it looks like a wall of snowy globes and really is quite the spectacular sight.

What is the best hydrangea for cut flowers?

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’

The OG of showy hydrangeas, ‘Annabelle’ is an RHS-award-winning cultivar whose blooms are born on sturdy stems, making it an ideal choice for floral arrangements and bouquets. Plant in a large container as a standalone feature shrub, en masse in one big, dense planting block, or as part of a high-impact flowering hedge (just as you would ‘Strong Annabelle’). In bouquets, cut hydrangea flowers work well alongside roses, peonies, delphiniums and ranunculus.

What is the best hydrangea for acidic soil?

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Little Blue’

You might have heard that some hydrangeas have bluer flowers depending on the soil pH. Soil can either be acidic, neutral or alkaline. Hydrangeas of the species Hydrangea macrophylla are most affected by soil acidity, with the bluest blooms occurring the more acidic the soil is. If it's neutral or alkaline, the resulting flowers will typically be a purplish and pink mix. The more alkaline, the more pink the flowers will be.

What is the best hydrangea for alkaline soil?

Hydrangea paniculata 'Vanille Fraise'

If you’ve got alkaline soil and are worried about whether this will have an effect on your hydrangea colour, then it’s safest to pick a species less prone to colour changes according to soil pH. Specifically, Hydrangea paniculata and Hydrangea arborescens.

These blooms will offer you the flowers you ‘see on the tin’, which isn’t to say that the blooms don’t necessarily change colour throughout the season, but those changes are at least predictable in a way that it is more difficult to be when it comes to the big-leaf hydrangeas. ‘Vanille Fraise’, for instance, is a fabulous panicle hydrangea whose conical blooms start out creamy white in colour, before maturing to darker pink shades later in the season.

What is the best ‘big-leaf’ hydrangea?

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Bouquet Rose’

Big-leaf hydrangeas, or to give them their botanical name, Hydrangea macrophylla, are varieties most easily identified by their, yep, you guessed it, big leaves. They can be broadly split into two categories, lacecap and mophead.

‘Bouquet Rose’ is a fabulous mophead variety, whose incredible domed blooms are either pink or purple (depending on your soil conditions). Like ‘Annabelle’, this variety’s blooms are borne on robust stems that make for fabulous cut flowers.

What is the best lacecap hydrangea?

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Libelle'

Lacecap hydrangeas can be identified by their flowers, which comprise a cluster of tiny blooms, surrounded by a ring of sterile florets, giving the look of a Victorian lace cap that some women used to wear. ‘Libelle’ is a stunning cultivar that’s been awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Its toothed green leaves serve as a lovely backdrop against which the white florets and blue/pink inner flowers (pH dependent).

What is the best mophead hydrangea?

Hydrangea macophylla ‘Expression’

There are so many brilliant mophead hydrangeas out there that it’s difficult to pick just one. If push really came to shove, however, and we had a gardening gun to our head, we’d go for ‘Expression’. The flowers are rich pink in hue, fully double in nature and held against a lush foliage backdrop, resulting in a truly spectacular plant. In acidic soil, the plant will adopt shades of blue.

What is the best hydrangea for fragrance?

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pinky Winky’

Hydrangeas aren’t particularly known for being fragrant, but that’s not to say there aren’t a few nicely-perfumed options out there. ‘Pinky Winky’, for instance, is a panicle hydrangea whose subtly musky blooms add another layer to an already wonderful-looking plant. The climbing hydrangea, Hydrangea petiolaris, also sports fragrant flowers, while it’s a great option for those gardeners looking to clothe a spare wall or fence.

Final thoughts

Hopefully, you’ll now have a better understanding of which hydrangea is right for you. We’ve written a comprehensive guide on growing hydrangeas, as well as an extensive piece on hydrangea pruning, ready for you to peruse at your leisure.