I had a bare spot alongside my back porch that I had wanted to plant a shrub of some kind for a long time. In the spirit of continuing my living memorial to Trixie, I dug out the spot and planted a Little Quick Fire Hydrangea.
I didn’t want a really large plant here that grew to a height that obscured my view from my porch. The Little Quick Fire Hydrangea needs sun to part shade and at maturity should reach 3 to 5 foot tall and wide. It is cold hardy and should survive winters in Kansas. Seemed the perfect fit for the area I was planting.
In the winter, the Little Quick Fire Hydrangea loses it’s leaves and is a pretty unsightly group of sticks. But by spring it should show some signs of life.
Panicle hydrangeas bloom on new wood so pruning is easy! Simply cut all stems/branches back down to 6-12” in late winter/early spring. Flower buds will set on the fresh new growth later in spring.
This Panicle Hydrangea blooms early in the season and its flowers should start off white, and turn to pink and red as summer goes by, and into the fall.
Fertilizing in the spring or early summer is recommended to push out that leaf growth. Avoid fertilizing after July as you don’t want to push new growth going into winter.
Once concern I had when in July we had an extended hot spell. I was watering these plants every other day when I noticed the leaves changing from white to a brownish color.
It’s normal for this plant to change color from white, to pink, to red. But this brownish tinge wasn’t very pink.
I got mixed results from a Facebook group I belong to… but the best advice seems to be continue watering (up in to every day during hot spell), and wait for the color transition to complete.
