Hydrangea macrophylla Curly Sparkle Blue

Hydrangea macrophylla Curly Sparkle Blue 'H213901' is the "blue" flower version of the amazing Curly Sparkle variety. This beautiful novelty offers large, almost frizzy pompoms composed of rippled florets in shades of blue-purple turning lime green at the end of flowering. A bush like no other for flower beds or large pots on a terrace. Its dark foliage provides beauty in spring, but becomes magnificent from summer to autumn, when it is crowned with a unique and changing flowering.

Hydrangea macrophylla Curly Sparkle Blue is the result of cross-breeding between H. macrophylla and H. aspera, among others. All these hardy plants belong to the Hydrangeaceae family, native to China and Japan. '

Curly Sparkle Blue has a compact and rounded habit, well-branched and very regular. Its growth is fast and uniform, reaching about 90cm (36in) in all directions when mature. From July to September, its spherical inflorescences appear, resembling large pompoms. They are composed of numerous tightly packed sterile florets with strongly undulated petals, painted in different shades of blue, violet, ash-blue, and veins of white. Before fading, these florets become a tender green. The flowering spreads over ample and shiny, dark green, deciduous foliage. The leaves are opposite, reaching a minimum length of about 15cm (6in). They are simple, ovate to elliptical, with a tapered tip and regularly serrated like a saw. Hydrangeas can live for at least 50 years.

Curly Sparkle Blue is a blue variety with very rich colours, whose flowering will enliven the shaded areas of the garden or terrace. Its flowers are also perfect in bouquets. Hydrangeas are well known for brightening up the north side of houses. This one will thrive in a non-burning east or west exposure, in flower beds as well as hedges. This compact variety is particularly suitable for container cultivation, which can be placed on a terrace in a beautiful pot, or near an entrance. Although these plants are sensitive to limestone, they are not strictly speaking ericaceous plants. However, to reveal their blue colour, they do require an acidic soil or one rich in aluminium sulphate, a component that can be easily added regularly. Pair them with Magellan fuchsias, annual impatiens, hostas, or rodgersias, or plant spring-flowering bulbs in front of their round silhouette. Enjoy their sumptuous flowering in the garden or in the house for a long time.

Note: The colour of the flowers of macrophylla hydrangeas varies depending on the soil pH. Traditionally blue varieties turn pink in neutral or alkaline soil. To maintain a beautiful blue colour, mix ericaceous soil with your garden soil and apply aluminium sulphate (slate contains it) or alum stone every spring.