Hydrangea 'Limelight'

When should I plant the Limelight Hydrangea?

The best time to plant the Limelight Hydrangea is anytime during autumn, winter, and spring. This enables the plant to recover from the transplanting process and establish before the heat of summer arrives. You can still plant Limelight Hydrangeas in summer provided you keep the water up to them. Make sure you a choose a sheltered location that gets full sun for at least five hours per day and has a moist and well-drained soil. When planting do not put any fertiliser in the hole, but rather spread is across the soil surface after planting and then water the plant well. The Plant Company recommends placing bark mulch or similar around the plants after planting to suppress weeds and preserve the soil moisture. With these tips we are sure your Limelight Hydrangea will reward you with beautiful flowers and foliage.

Are miniature Limelight Hydrangeas available?

The miniature Limelight Hydrangea variety is Hydrangea ‘Little Lime’. This variety grows to 90-140 cm tall and wide. Unfortunately, these miniature Limelight Hydrangeas are not available in NZ at this time.

What is the Limelight Hydrangea spacing for an informal hedge?

The Limelight Hydrangea is often grown as an informal hedge. That is, a hedge this is minimally trimmed, if at all, such that their natural, rounded shape is preserved to a degree. To create an informal hedge, the spacing between the plants is 1-1.2 m apart. The Limelight Hydrangea hedge can be trimmed as little or as much as you want given it is the informality you are wanting. The Plant Company recommends that informal hedges are trimmed with a little and often approach so they are bushy yet still contained and shapely.

What is the best fertiliser for the Limelight Hydrangea?

Limelight Hydrangeas are vigorous plants that require feeding to keep them flowering and growing optimally. A lot of articles have all sorts of advice on this subject but we prefer to keep it simple. The Plant Company’s shrub fertiliser has been blended to give plants an initial boost and then sustained nutrition for 12-months. This fertiliser is applied to the soil surface in spring just as the buds start to burst. More importantly, we advise that no fertiliser is placed in the hole at planting, but rather spread around the soil surface so it can wash through the roots as it releases. The Plant Company’s shrub fertiliser ensures that nutrients remain in the soil around the plant rather than being lost through the soil profile to where the plant cannot reach it. This also applies to plants grown on sandy soils. This fertiliser is therefore very environmentally friendly and longer lasting than most other products in the market and is therefore the best fertiliser for the Limelight Hydrangea. It can also be blended with fertiliser for acid-loving plants if you think the soil needs acidifying.

What are the garden uses for the Limelight Hydrangea?

Hydrangea Limelight is a much-loved shrub in NZ gardens. It is most commonly grown as specimen, used as an informal hedge, added to a mixed planting, or planted as a backdrop for smaller plants. It is a great complement to a modern or cottage garden, bringing both colour and elegance to a space. It is the gorgeous foliage and beautiful flowers of this plant that makes the Limelight Hydrangea an excellent choice for a NZ garden.

Hydrangea Limelight for sale

The Plant Company has the best Hydrangea Limelight shrubs for sale in NZ. Our production nursery specialises in growing amazing plants and our logistics team pack them carefully for our customers. The pricing is competitive and the quality is exceptional. Let us look after your Hydrangea Limelight needs and impress you with both our products and service!

How to prune Hydrangea Limelight trees

Hydrangea Limelight trees are pruned each winter to contain growth and encourage fresh, new growth that will bear flowers. The Plant Company recommends they are pruned back to a low crown which has short stems (about 10 cm long) with at least two buds on each stem remaining. Any dead stems should also be removed at this time, along with stems that are criss-crossing or show disease. Young plants will generally be left with five stems whereas older plants can have 10 stems remaining. These can be thinned back if desired which will help produce bigger flower heads. The Plant Company recommends leaving longer stems on younger plants to help them establish quicker. In general, the harder the plant is pruned back, the more contained it will grow the next season. Flowering can be affected with hard pruning but that is more likely to cause delayed flowering only. A mistake often made with pruning Hydrangea Limelight trees is to not prune the plants hard enough. This error results in a woodier plant and a much larger plant that can be difficult to contain.

How tall does the Limelight Hydrangea grow?

The Limelight Hydrangea typically grows to 1.5 m tall and the same wide. This is a general guide as the plants will grow taller in a warm and sheltered climate when minimally trimmed. Conversely, they will grow shorter when grown in sub-optimal conditions and when aggressively pruned.