All Summer Beauty Hydrangea
Hydrangea macrophylla ‘All Summer Beauty’
All I can say is Wow! This is a spectacular plant!
This is a plant that I’ve been trying to get my hands on for sometime now, not readily available in local markets and not all that available on the wholesale market. In my opinion, this is a plant that is getting pushed off of the market by So Called Better Patented Varieties.
What could be better than this?
Endless Summer Hydrangea is a patented variety, a big hit on the market, and it is a nice plant. I have several of them in my landscape at home. And they do bloom well. But when you compare the blooms, I like All Summer Beauty 100 times better. These are the Endless Summer in My Landscape.
But in my opinion, they don’t compare to this . . .
All Summer Beauty Hydrangea.
All Summer Beauty Hydrangea Rooted Cuttings and or Liners.
I’ll start by explaining the difference between a rooted cutting and a liner.
A rooted cutting is just as it sounds, a small twig, usually about 4 to 5 inches. No branches, a few leaves and a nice little root ball on the bottom.
A liner is a rooted cutting that has been grown out for one year. The stem is heavier, it has started to branch out and it has a much nicer root system. Years ago when almost all nursery stock was grown in the field instead of containers the term liner was coined, describing a plant that was sturdy enough to be “lined out in the field”.
This spring, 2015, I bought 200 or 300, I don’t remember, All Summer Beauty rooted cuttings. They were nice enough, a few leaves, nice little root system. We potted them up in May and I took the photos that you see on this page in September of the same year. They grew like crazy, bloomed like crazy!
All Summer Beauty Hydrangea in bloom.
Needless to say, I have been fall down impressed with All Summer Beauty Hydrangea.
Of course mine in the nursery are grown in a potting soil mix, while the Endless Summer that I have at home are in topsoil that is really heavier than I like. So soil does make a difference, it can and will alter the bloom color.
The color of All Summer Beauty Hydrangea will change to a very rich blue color when grown in acid soil of if you amend the soil you have with aluminum sulfate, found at any full service garden center.
All Summer Beauty is hardy in zones 5 through 9 which gives it pretty wide appeal across the country.
They will tolerate shade but I grow mine in full sun and they do amazingly well, bloom like crazy.
Propagating All Summer Beauty Hydrangea.
These are very easy to propagate. Best results come from softwood cuttings done in early summer so the plants have a chance to harden off and store so food before winter. See this about Softwood Cuttings.
Hardwood cuttings? They can be done as hardwoods but for most people they really don’t do well as hardwood cuttings. Details about hardwood cuttings are here.
Where can you buy rooted cuttings or liners of All Summer Beauty Hydrangea?
I bought mine from a local friend, small grower. Just recently somebody asked who might have some All Summer Beauty Hydrangea in Our Members Area and several people spoke up and said that they did have them, or would have some soon as soon as they could dig them.
That’s the amazing thing about our members. Collectively they have just about everything that somebody is looking for. Not in large quantities sometimes, but whatever it is they usually have it.
Questions or comments? Post them below.
Hi Mike, from my viewpoint, All Summer Beauty has a nice sky blue flower and is also very floriferous, it is shorter than most, almost ideal, but it’s drawback is that it has weak braches and so is floppy with an untidy appearance. I still would grow it, even though the nurserys now shun it, for stiffer plants. often sacrificing height or floriferousness. Would you show the whole plant in your article and maybe compare form, with Endless summer, which I have not seen in a garden setting?
Julian,
That would be a good comparison but I don’t have any mature plants that I can photograph at this time.
Mike where can I purchase the summer long blooming hydrangea you spoke about in your email?
Phedelma,
You’ll have to search online for all summer beauty.
How do I find out what variety of Hydranga I have in my garden? It was here over 30 years ago when we bought the place. It looks like and Oak leaf hydranga with big ball flowers, blue if real acidic, pink if real alkaline. Thanks Mike. Love your website and the pictures of your beautiful wife and family, including four legged family!
Sabine,
There is no way for you to correctly identify the type of hydrangea you have, there are hundreds and hundreds of them. I share this with our members all the time as a reminder; Are the cuttings that you have to stick “Rant Compliant”.
Honestly, this is the most important thing I can teach new members.
http://freeplants.com/rant.htm
mike i live in the u.k and read your hints and tips regular, and have often wondered is there a u.k. branch any where
hopefully yours
m fowler
Martin,
We have many followers in the UK and one or two members in the UK. The information applies anywhere in the world. The suppliers are obviously different. Thanks for sticking with me.
I’ve noticed over the years that there hasn’t been many if at all in stores; when I was younger they were everywhere. That’s a horrible shame. I’d love to keep them going for the pure passion and love of plants and these beauties. I’m not able to access the business center forums as I’m not a full member but I would totally grow these for the experience if that’s possible.
Jenn,
You don’t have to be a business center member to grow and sell plants. It just makes it easier to get all the info you need and get it quickly.
Thank you, I realize I can and do grow plants on my own. What I meant was the ability to acquire quality plants next to ordering online isn’t great here or at least the places I’ve been there’s a serious lack of variety… And id rather grow hydrangeas Though I’m more educated in nontoxic and edibles; fruits veggies and herbs as I am working towards horticultural therapy type nursery. I’m finding myself growing from seed to avoid patented plants. Sorry I’m babbling. I guess I need to look harder.
Jenn,
Growing from seed is really not a good option for many things because many plants simply do not come true from seed and you end up with a rather boring, generic version, many of which flower poorly. That’s why we have named varieties because they are superior to what was the original plant. On a local level it is difficult to find many of these old varieties which is shame, but the mind set is to push them off the market and replace them with something that pays big business a royalty on every plant sold.
In our members area, http://backyardgrowers.com/join, patented plants are really discouraged and you can find rooted cuttings and or liners of just about anything you want that is not patented. A rooted cutting is exactly as it sounds, a cutting, pretty much a stick, with some leaves and roots on the bottom. A liner is a rooted cutting that has been grown out for one growing season. It is starting to branch out and has a much heavier root system than a rooted cutting. This discussion comes up a lot in the members area. Keep in mind, you can get 30 days in the members area for only $7.00. http://backyardgrowers.com/join I’m not sure if we are still accepting new members right now or now, I know Duston was going to close it. We are just winding up a membership drive.
Is it true that wont Hydrangea servive in direct sun?
My Endless Summer hydrangeas were planted in full sun in 2004. They are still going strong and gorgeous.. The downside of full sun is that the leaves and flowers wilt when the sun is strong. However, the plant quickly recovers. as the temperature cools down. Every few years, my Endless Summers go “nova” with blooms as they did this year. Unfortunately, the record number of huge heavy blooms are crushing the plants. I see much deadheading in my future!
Mike,
How long does it take for a cutting to grow to a saleable size?
Thanks,
Paul,
A hydrangea rooted cutting? Not long at all. We pot up hydrangea rooted cuttings in May and have saleable $5.97 plants by August, September at the latest. By then they usually need pruning.
Mike,
Can you ship to Culpeper, VA?
Thanks,
Paul
Paul,
At this time I am not shipping any plants at all, but our members certainly do. http://backyardgrowers.com/join
Mike, I have what appears to be two unusual hydrangea plants, about three feet tall, fully bushed out. The heads are blooming now, but in THREE COLORS! They start out white, but some on each plant are getting blue tinge, others are getting pink tinge, while others remain white.
Is this something new?
They were all white and almost five feet tall when I decided to move them after noticing they were getting ‘burned’ where I originally had them, too much hot summer sun. I pruned them before digging in November 2014, and moved them from the east side of my deck to the front deck on the south where they get late day shade from the trees, and they’re doing very well there. That area has a mix of sandy soil, and a bit of the dark top soil I had trucked in, when I originally terraced all of my front yard. I plan on taking a lot of cuttings to root this year, and more next year. Everybody around here thinks they’re absolutely beautiful!
Larry,
The problem is you don’t know what they are, but I suspect they might be Nikko Blue. But if you are growing them to sell, you really need to propagate from plants that are properly labeled. See my rant, For years and years and years this has been my rant;
http://freeplants.com/rant.htm
Now explained in a more technical way, this article is worth it’s weight in gold;
http://www.amerinursery.com/growing/propagation/why-names-matter/
I’d like to buy 20-30 All Summer Beauty hydrangea rooted cuttings. Would you please help me find the source? Thank you very much.
Brenda,
At this point the only place I can send you is to our members area once we start accepting new members again. Very few wholesalers have them, and those that do will not accept an order for just 20 or 30 rooted cuttings. But in our members area, orders like that are routine. http://backyardgrowers.com/join
I have one plant of these beauties that was originally a pot-plant gift. I’d love to propagate this one plant into a dozen, but this year I think I need to treat a disease of some kind and maybe I can do the propagation next fall. The leaves have brown spots on them. I’ve not taken a sample to a nursery. Do you have any ideas what it might be and how to treat it? I probably will transplant in better soil after I prune it. When and with what should I feed it?
By the way, thank you so much for the free booklet you recently sent me! (Plant Propagation Made Easy) I’m having a good time reading it. I love your site!
Bev,
If you want to propagate the hydrangea make sure it’s planted outside. It should make new leaves, put on new growth, then you can propagate it in June. See this https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/01/easy-summertime-plant-propagation-techniques-can-home/
Do you know where I can buy several hundred cuttings to line out
Lee,
Somebody in the members area http://backyardgrowers.com/join might have them, if not they probably know of a source for them. I don’t post my wholesale sources on the blog or in emails.
Had These in Richfield, Ohio. Grew like crazy, had to trim back every year. The trimming must have had an effect. Going to try to grow in Colorado. Wish me luck. Low maintenance for me.
GOOD MORNING I HAVE ENDLESS SUMMER HYDRANGEAS AND SOME OTHER HYDRANGEAS BUT DO NOT KNOW THE NAME I CUT THEM BACK LAST YEAR AND THIS YEAR THEY DIDNT REALLY BLOOM UNTILL LATE SUMMER FALL…HOW DO I PRUNE AND VUT BACK THESE PLANTS SO THEY LOOK BUSHY WHEN SPRING/SUMMER COMES?
Nellie,
I’d prune them right now, ideally right after they finish blooming. Mine are still in bloom in mid October. More here; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2012/07/hydrangea-pruning-made-easy/
Hi, mike and Pam. I am looking for Japanese snowball plants. I live in Texas and do you ship.
No, at this point I do not ship plants. Many, many of our members do, http://backyardgrowers.com/join and we have a number of them in Texas.