Silver Dollar Hydrangea is an awesome hydrangea, smaller in size, yet a prolific bloomer. This plant is a sport of the P.G. Hydrangea which has been a staple in landscapes for more years than you can remember.
Today several different types of hydrangeas are used to create into tree hydrangeas but I believe P.G. was the first.
Silver Dollar Hydrangea Can also Be Trained to Grow into a Smaller Tree Hydrangea, see this post about that.
Because Silver Dollar is in the paniculata family of hydrangeas it it is a great and dependable bloomer. Paniculatas bloom on current growth so the flower buds do not have to make it through the winter like many Macrophyllas do.
They take off growing in the spring, grow like crazy, then around July they stop growing and make a flower bud at the end of each branch. So the more you prune them when they are young the fuller they are and the blooms you will have.
There are tons and tons of hydrangeas on the market and many of what you see in the garden centers are new introductions. That’s good and bad.
New introductions are usually patented and the names are trademarked. If you look closely, much of what you see in garden centers are in colored or branded pots. That usually means that the plant is patented or the name is a registered trademark. That means that you and I cannot legally propagate them.
Urrrrrrg!
But not really Urrrrrg. There are tons of beautiful hydrangeas that you and I are free to propagate. You can find a list of those Public Domain Plants Here.
Silver Dollar Hydrangea is one of those public domain plants. You are free to propagate this baby to your heart’s content and you can do them as
Softwood Cuttings in the Summer or
Hardwood Cuttings in the Winter.
Silver Dollar will grow in just about any soil and is hardy in zones 4 through 8. If you have problems finding them, it’s likely that you will, they are often available as small plants in Our Members Area for just a couple dollars each.
Right now I only have four small plants in my nursery so I don’t have a lot of good photos, but when I get them I’ll update this page. But I do have about 50 rooted cuttings that we got this summer!
And that’s the problem with all of these new plant introductions. Beautiful, dependable plants like Silver Dollar Hydrangea are getting kicked to the curb. Growers are not growing them, they believe that the garden centers want the new introductions. So instead of propagating themselves they buy liners, pay the royalty, buy the colored or branded pot and then have to charge more.
I constantly remind our members that it is our job to make sure that these older, beautiful, public domain plants never go off the market.
Are the new introductions better? In most cases I don’t necessarily believe so. They are just the most promoted in the gardening magazines etc. But often there are many beautiful public domain plants that are just as nice and practically identical.
Right off the top of my head here are a couple that I’ve written about.
All Summer Beauty Hydrangea. Take a peek. This is a public domain plant.
Forever Pink Hydrangea. Another Public Domain plant, take a peak.
Annabelle Hydrangea. Another awesome public domain plant. Take a peak.
Questions, comments, mean things to say? Post them below and I will respond.
Hey Gang,
So, I over-fertilized my potted hydrangea (leaves turned brown on the edges, flower petals turned brown on the stem). Is there any hope of saving it now?
Thanks a bunch,
~Atia
Atia,
Water really well, then let it dry and keep it watered as needed. It will either bounce back or not, not much else you can do. Give it lots of time to make new buds.
Thanks Mike. You are a Rock Star!
Thanks, I appreciate that.
Some how I received this afew minutes ago:I’M SAD YOU’RE LEAVING BUT…
DON’T FORGET YOUR FREE GIFT
I do not want to stop receiving your emails
regards
Norman Wansbrough Auckland NZ
Norman,
Just go to the form on this site and re-enter your email address.
Distinguish between two things:
Patent & Trademark.
A plant patent lasts 20 years. You can propagate it legally after the 20 year period is up.
A trademark can be renewed indefinitely, but a trademark cannot be applied to an individual product, but only to a brand.
This aspect of trademark is abused in the plant world a lot. While illegal, most small growers don’t have the resources to fight it.
That said: Once the patent has expired, you can propagate it, and sell it calling it anything you want. You can even say in your advertising, “Silver Star Hydrangea is very similar to “Silver Staircase Hydrangea(TM)
Sherwood,
This part of your comment is not accurate; “That said: Once the patent has expired, you can propagate it, and sell it calling it anything you want. You can even say in your advertising, “Silver Star Hydrangea is very similar to “Silver Staircase Hydrangea(TM)”
You cannot just make up a name for a plant. You either have to sell it by it’s accepted common name, which might be trademarked, and in that case you cannot use that name. Or you can sell it by it’s botanical name, which is what you have to do with trademarked plants that are no longer under patent protection.
I live in the UK ! Just wanna say thank you for all your knowledge you have sent over the years 😃Happy Christmas 🎄
Thank you Carol, I appreciate that.
These are beautiful!! I love hydrangas but have never grown them; think I’ll give them a try.
Thank you!
do these/will they survive in U.S.D.A. zone 4 ? thank ya fer the tips
Hi what is shipping to colorado for the hydrengia