Snowball Hydrangea 'Annabelle' - care and cutting

• The pedigree of 'Annabelle'
• The care of the snowball hydrangea
• Cut 'Annabelle'

If you want to see royal white flowers in the garden, you absolutely need a snowball hydrangea 'Annabelle' - which is quite easy to care for and cut with all the prominence. The snowball hydrangea 'Annabelle' is a forest hydrangea, but in fact defines its own kind of hydrangea, the the ball or snowball hydrangea with beautiful and wonderful big flower balls. Flower fans will not regret if they invite an 'Annabelle' to their garden:

The pedigree of 'Annabelle'

The Annabelle is descended from the forest hydrangea, botanical Hydrangea arborescens, therefore also known as tree hydrangeas.

These forest hydrangeas are quite strong as wild forms, they are up to 3 meters high. Its flowers are white to greenish white, quite romantic, with large flowering leaves of 5 to 10 cm, which bloom from June to September. Forest hydrangeas form slender shoots with broad ovate to 15 cm long leaves. They prefer partial shade and also tolerate sun, if enough moisture is provided.

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Of the forest hydrangeas there are several varieties that have inherited their basic characteristics, but were changed by breeding:

• 'Grandiflora' is the most well-known cultivated form, its broad greenish white flowers reach a diameter of approx. 15 cm
• 'Hayes Starburst' develops white filled flowers, a truly impressive sight

And just the variety 'Annabelle' that is at stake here. It produces particularly large white flower balls of up to 30 cm in diameter and is therefore also called snowball hydrangea. Her height growth has been limited to gardening, she is only about 1 - 1.3 meters high.

Furthermore, 'Annabelle' was very hardy and bred to ensure that it flowers reliably in climatically less favored areas.

The care of the snowball hydrangea

is quite simple and looks like this:

• Location is best in the light partial shade, like half under high, shady woody plants
• She should better not get no midday sun, which could burn the plant
• Morning sun and / or evening sun are enjoyed, which also promote the abundant flowering
• Furthermore, the site should never hit direct gusts of wind on the plant
• Annabelle should be planted in a loose, well drained garden soil
• In the season before the plant can be enriched with some ripe compost
• The Annabelle must be sufficiently watered, the soil should always be kept slightly moist
• Waterlogging, however, must be avoided as always with land plants
• To start in the growing season and during the flowering Annabelle likes to take some commercially available fertilizer
• Main fertilization in spring, after pruning and before new budding, second fertilization at the end of July
• Then give well-fertilized fertilizer, so that the plant hardens well and reaches its full frost hardness
• The warmer and drier it can be at the site, the more the Annabelle does a layer of moisture-storing mulch
• The heyday of Annabelle extends from early summer into autumn and can possibly be extended a little, s. cut the same

Tip - If an Annabelle develops splendidly, she needs a lot of water in hot summers. A casting ring (small earth wall around the roots) filled with deciduous mulch keeps irrigation water in place and reduces the evaporation a little.

Cut 'Annabelle'

While normal garden hydrangeas need hardly be pruned, the snowball hydrangea needs a regular cut:

• The flowering hydrangea develops not only very large, but also very solid flower balls
• The bring Annabelle in wind and heavy rain often in equilibrium conflicts
• If she sways too much with too many flower shoots, something quickly breaks away ...
• Therefore, it is cut back vigorously in the spring, all around, down to about 50 to 80 cm
• This not only gives her better stability, but also provides for a more abundant branching
• But you are more likely to struggle with the opposite, Annabelle usually starts with many fundamental drives into growth
• If it has become too dense at some point, it should be lighted
• Annabelle flowers in contrast to garden hydrangeas on new wood and can therefore be cut in the spring
• In spring cutting, dead and sickly shoot tips are cut away
• If you cut away the inflorescence of the first flora after wilting, more flowers might develop in the same season

Tip - Strong Annabelles are sold at heights of 80 cm, these are bucket suitable plants. The bucket should be quite large and have at least a volume of 30 l, like much more. The larger the volume of the earth, the easier it is to maintain a container plant, because the supply of water and nutrients is greater and the plant can also form roots that are more appropriate to the plant mass at the top.