Endless Summer Hydrangeas are popular for their reblooming ability and vibrant, long-lasting flowers. Companion planting, the strategic placement of different plants together, enhances their beauty and health. This practice transforms a garden bed into a dynamic landscape, supporting hydrangeas and adding visual interest.
Benefits of Companion Planting
Strategically combining plants with Endless Summer Hydrangeas offers many advantages for the garden ecosystem. Aesthetically, companion plants introduce diverse textures, colors, and forms, creating a dynamic display. Beyond aesthetics, these partnerships offer practical benefits like suppressing weeds, which reduces competition for resources. Some retain soil moisture. Ecologically, certain plants attract beneficial insects and pollinators, while others deter pests.
Choosing Companion Plants
Choosing companion plants for Endless Summer Hydrangeas involves shared environmental requirements. Hydrangeas generally thrive in morning sun and dappled afternoon shade, preferring rich, well-draining soil with consistent moisture. While hydrangeas tolerate a range of soil pH, companion plants should share similar preferences for light, moisture, and soil. Aesthetic considerations are also important; choose plants with complementary colors, textures, and heights. Varying bloom times ensure continuous visual interest.
Recommended Companion Plants
A diverse selection of plants pairs effectively with Endless Summer Hydrangeas, enhancing their beauty.
Partial Shade Companions
For areas with partial shade, a common preference for hydrangeas, several perennials are excellent choices:
Hostas: With varied leaf shapes and colors, they provide textural contrast and thrive in moist, well-drained soil conditions.
Ferns: Such as Japanese painted fern or lady fern, they introduce a delicate, lacy texture and prefer shady, moist environments, creating a woodland aesthetic.
Astilbe: With feathery plumes in pink, red, and white, it offers striking visual contrast and blooms before many hydrangeas, extending the season of interest.
Coral bells (Heuchera): Valued for colorful foliage, which ranges from green to purple to bronze, they can effectively suppress weeds as a low-growing option.
Sun Tolerant Companions
For hydrangeas tolerating more sun, other companions are suitable:
Daylilies (Hemerocallis): With trumpet-shaped flowers and strap-like foliage, they bloom around the same time as hydrangeas and are quite adaptable.
Coneflowers (Echinacea): Pollinator magnets that produce daisy-like blooms in a variety of colors, thriving in full sun and well-drained soil.
Alliums: With their distinctive globe-shaped flowers, they offer bold statements and come in colors that can complement hydrangea blooms.
Cranesbill geranium: A low-maintenance perennial that forms a weed-suppressing groundcover with blue, pink, or purple flowers, and it tolerates both full and partial sun.
Small Shrubs and Groundcovers
Small shrubs and groundcovers are excellent companions, providing structure or filling spaces:
Boxwoods: Offer year-round evergreen structure and a formal backdrop, thriving in partial shade and well-drained soil.
Japanese Pieris: An evergreen that produces hanging clusters of white or pink flowers in spring and enjoys partial shade and rich soil.
Hakone grass (Japanese forest grass): An ornamental grass that brightens shady areas with its golden or variegated foliage, contrasting beautifully with hydrangea leaves.
Creeping Jenny: With its bright chartreuse leaves, it is a low-growing groundcover that helps retain soil moisture and softens garden edges.
Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala ssp.): Can form a dense mat, providing dark green foliage and white lace-cap flowers, thriving in partial to full shade and consistently moist soil.
Designing Your Hydrangea Garden
Creating a cohesive garden around Endless Summer Hydrangeas involves thoughtful design principles. Layering plants of different heights is a key technique, placing taller plants or shrubs at the back, medium-sized perennials in the middle, and low-growing groundcovers or annuals in the foreground. This creates depth and a natural visual progression through the garden space. Consider the mature size of each plant to ensure adequate spacing, preventing overcrowding and allowing for proper air circulation, which helps maintain plant health.
Design for visual flow through repeating plant forms, colors, or textures, and incorporating gentle curves in bed lines. Consistent watering is important for all plants in the combined planting. Applying organic mulch helps retain soil moisture and regulate soil temperature.