{"id":14273,"date":"2025-04-11T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=14273"},"modified":"2025-04-06T19:14:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T23:14:36","slug":"oakleaf-hydrangeas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2025\/04\/11\/oakleaf-hydrangeas\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakleaf Hydrangeas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Oakleaf hydrangea<em> <\/em>(<em>Hydrangea quercifolia<\/em>) is an upright, broad-rounded, suckering, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub. In the wild oakleafs may grow 20 feet tall, but popular landscape cultivars typically grow 4-8 feet) tall. It is a wonderful shrub with multi-season interest. This Southeastern U.S. native shrub tolerates hot, humid weather and is not as winter hardy as some other popular hydrangea species (USDA hardiness zones 5-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In the 6-10 feet range:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8216;Snow Queen&#8217;&nbsp;<\/strong>flourishes with 4- to 12- inch-long creamy white double floral panicles in early summer that finish with a pinkish tint 6-8 weeks later in cooler northerly climes. Its red to burgundy fall leaf color is exceptional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018Snowflake\u2019<\/strong> is a popular standout for its double white panicles mostly showy sterile flowers. Shrub grows 5-8 feet tall and as wide and blooms in June for 6-8 weeks, gradually fading to pink and later to brown in late summer. Distinctive, deeply lobed, deep green oak-like leaves measure 8-inch long and are coarse textured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Alice-2-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"685\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Alice-2-1024x685.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14271\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Alice-2-1024x685.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Alice-2-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Alice-2-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Alice-2-1536x1028.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Alice-2-2048x1371.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8216;Alice&#8217; oakleaf hydrangea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018Alice\u2019<\/strong>, the largest of the three, struts 10- to 14-inch white-then-rose flowers. Alice was introduced by Dr. Michael Dirr. The shrub averages 6 to 8 feet in height but can reach 12 feet tall and wide in the South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In the 3-6 feet range:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018Pee Wee\u2019<\/strong> produces white flowers that turn pink in autumn. Shrub grows 4 feet high and 3 feet wide. White spring flowers fade to pink in early fall; its oak-leaf like foliage stays deep green through summer and turns bright red in early autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018<\/strong><strong>Sike&#8217;s Dwarf\u2019<\/strong> is a dwarf mounded cultivar that matures to only 2-3 feet tall and to 3-4 feet wide. Its leaves and flower panicles are smaller. Elongated, conical white flower panicles (to 3-4&#8243; long) of showy, mostly sterile, white flowers and gradually fade to light pink and then turn brown by late summer Its deep green, oak-like leaves (to 5\u201d long) turn attractive shades of bronze, maroon and purple in autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018Ruby Slippers\u2019<\/strong> is a U.S. National Arboretum release. &#8216;Pee Wee\u2019 is one of its parents.&nbsp;Large flower clusters emerge white, turn light pink, and mature to ruby red. Leaves turn deep mahogany red in fall. It typically grows 3-4 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Ruby-Slippers-2-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Ruby-Slippers-2-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14613\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Ruby-Slippers-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Ruby-Slippers-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Ruby-Slippers-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Ruby-Slippers-2-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Ruby-Slippers-2-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8216;Ruby Slippers&#8217; oakleaf hydrangea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018Munchkin\u2019<\/strong>, another U.S. National Arboretum introduction, grows compact to 3 to 4 \u00bd feet tall and wide with rounded form and dark green leaves that turn deep burgundy in fall. Large clusters of&nbsp;white flowers&nbsp;stand upright above the leaves and later age to pink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gatsby Gal\u00ae<\/strong> is a semi-dwarf oakleaf hydrangea that grows 5-6 feet tall and wide. Its green, oak-shaped foliage and large fragrant blooms in summer, outstanding fall color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gatsby Pink<sup>\u00ae<\/sup><\/strong>&nbsp;grows 6-8 feet tall and boasts big, showy blooms that quickly transform from pure white to pink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018Little Honey\u2019<\/strong> is a petite grower with green-yellow leaves and snow-white cone-shaped flowers. Flowers are secondary to its standout chartreuse foliage. It grows 3-4 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide and performs best in full sun in northerly areas and in partial sun to partial shade in the mid-South. The aging flowers turn crimson at early autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Little-Honey-7-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Little-Honey-7-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14614\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Little-Honey-7-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Little-Honey-7-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Little-Honey-7-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Little-Honey-7-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hydrangea-quercifolia-Little-Honey-7-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8216;Little Honey&#8217; oakleaf hydrangea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is an upright, broad-rounded, suckering, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub. In the wild oakleafs may grow 20 feet tall, but popular landscape cultivars typically grow 4-8 feet) tall. It is a wonderful shrub with multi-season interest. This Southeastern U.S. native shrub tolerates hot, humid weather and is not as winter hardy as some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,747,1319,299,1037,144,1498,674,1357,665,1324,10,622,675,853,1435,551,627,1476,1403,843,1060,990,601,729,777,630,705,706,646,7,113,655,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14273"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14273"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15200,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14273\/revisions\/15200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}