Hydrangea macrophylla Mousseline

The Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mousseline' is a wonderful hydrangea dating back to 1900, a robust, reliable and generous variety that our grandmothers appreciated. With excellent floribundity, it repeat flowers late in the season, offering beautiful ball-shaped flower heads that will take on a pale pink to baby blue colour, depending on the soil. They open on a vigorous bush with a rounded habit adorned with light green foliage. This variety will thrive in a partially shaded and cool exposure, in a non-limestone soil, conditions that will reveal its beauty without artifice.

The Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mousseline' is an excellent French creation that we owe to Emile Lemoine. It comes from the species H. macrophylla, a very hardy plant belonging to the Hydrangea family, native to China and Japan. 'Mousseline' has a rounded, regular habit and vigorous growth. It reaches about 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in) in all directions at maturity, but in certain conditions it can grow up to 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) in height. Its enormous flower heads appear at the end of June and exceed 20 cm (7.9 in) in diameter. This flowering continues in late summer, on a cushion of already faded summer flowers. Each flower head is composed of small fertile and sterile flowers with striking dimorphism. The larger sterile florets are light blue if the soil is acidic (pH between 5.5 and 6.5), but they will be pale pink if the plant grows in neutral soil (pH=7). Their colour evolves over time to light green, before fading to light brown. The flowering spreads over a very healthy-looking foliage, light green in colour, rather matte. The leaves are opposite, reaching a minimum length of about twenty centimetres. They are simple, oval to elliptical, ending in a pointed tip, coarsely toothed like a saw. Hydrangeas can live for at least 50 years.

The 'Mousseline' Hydrangea is a charming, generous and sturdy plant, excellent for partial shade. Hydrangeas, beloved by gardeners, are well known for brightening the north side of houses. This one will thrive in an east-facing exposure, protected from the burning rays of the summer sun and the setting sun, in shrub beds as well as hedges. This variety will bring a lot of charm to the partially shaded areas of the garden, to a somewhat hidden entrance, to the corner of a porch. Even though these plants fear limestone, hydrangeas are not strictly ericaceous plants, they like fertile and clay soils. Pair them with Magellan fuchsias, annual impatiens, or plant spring-flowering bulbs in front of their round silhouette. Enjoy their sumptuous flowering in the garden or in the house, and create romantic bouquets with their beautiful flowers.

Note: The colour of hydrangea macrophylla flowers 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 or sphagnum moss with your garden soil and add aluminium sulphate (slate contains it) or alum stone every spring.