Tips and Varieties – Tree Finch

Simple, easy to care for, elegant

Are hydrangeas just for romantic cottage gardens? Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say this! With their clear flower shapes and elegant growth, they fit perfectly into modern garden designs. Hydrangeas are an excellent choice, especially if you want to design a garden with a small, elegant but also lively appearance.

In this article we will show you which varieties are particularly suitable, how you can integrate them into modern material and color concepts and which plants you can best combine them with.

1. Why hydrangeas suit modern gardens

Modern gardens thrive on clarity, structure and pared-down aesthetics and that’s exactly what hydrangeas bring. Their impressive, often spherical inflorescences attract attention, but seem calm. Especially when planted repeatedly, they create a calm rhythm and set strong visual accents through their size and color.

Hydrangeas are also characterized by their reliability: they are easy to care for, long-lasting and reward with a long flowering period – perfect conditions for a garden that does not require much work, but still looks beautiful.

Hydrangeas can also be beautifully displayed in small gardens or front gardens. In particular, country hydrangeas or compact varieties of snowball hydrangeas do well in sheltered corners or as a structural planting in front of a house wall.

2. The best hydrangeas for the modern garden: varieties, locations and soil requirements

Some types of hydrangeas go particularly well with the reduced style of modern gardens:

• Panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea panicala) As ’Limelight', ’Strawberry Vanilla' OR ’Kyushu' they amaze with their cone-shaped flowers, which change from white to pink. They love sunny or partially shaded positions, are very tolerant of pruning and thrive best in humus-rich, slightly acidic but well-drained soil.
• Schneeballhortensien (Hydrangea arborescens)especially the variety "Annabelle"they create strong contrasts with their huge white flower balls and look particularly beautiful against a dark background or in combination with gravel surfaces. They prefer semi-shaded positions, but can also tolerate more sun as long as the soil is cool to moist. The variety 'Incrediball Blush' has hard, delicate pink flowers and is therefore ideal for a delicate color accent. Important: the soil must be rich in nutrients and slightly acidic.

(Ribalta pranicular hydrangea)

Suggestion: If you plant hydrangeas in the garden multiple times, be sure to plant them in groups or in rhythmic repetition. This creates peace and order, even with large flowers.

Also for Front gardens These varieties are ideal: both as a design focal point in a bed of ground cover plants (e.g.B. Small evergreen (Vinca minor) or evergreen elven flower) or in combination with light structures such as Corten steel elements or exposed concrete walking plates. Especially in combination with evergreen trees (e.g. yew or Ilex crenata) and thin grasses (e.g. bearskin grass), an image quickly emerges that appears modern, well-kept and inviting and at the same time does notit does the job.

3. Material and Color Combinations: How to Add Hydrangeas to Modern Gardens

The trend of the modern garden is clearly towards reduction: fewer colours, clear lines, natural materials. Hydrangeas fit perfectly into this concept, especially if you use the following combinations:

• Materials: Concrete paving areas or large format natural stone slabs, Corten steel as raised beds or privacy screens, finely scattered gravel as a tranquil backdrop for planting areas
• Colors: Combine hydrangeas with muted tones such as charcoal, white, cream or blue-gray. Silver-leafed plants such as lavender or holywort also fit well into the picture.
• Area effect: Use hydrangeas to break up light structures, such as along a visual axis or as a solitary plant in a gravel bed.

Tip: A white-flowered 'Annabelle' bush in a minimalist gravel bed with a dark border can be extremely attractive, especially if you also use targeted lighting.

(Hydrangea fastball Annabelle)

4. Companions and contrasts

Hydrangeas develop their effect particularly well when combined with structurally strong companion plants. The ideal ones are:

• Ornamental grasses like miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus'), fine-bristled grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) bring lightness and movement to the garden.
• Evergreen trees such as spherical yews or holm oak varieties as a silent frame.
• Lonely like Japanese red maple (Palmate maple 'Atropurpureum'), a small sweet gum tree or red wig bush bring depth, seasonal variety and an interesting accent of color.
• Formal perennials like sage (Sage wood), catnip (Nepeta Fassenii), bulbous leek (Garlic) or the classic lavender, complete the abundance of hydrangea flowers with linear or spherical contrasts.

Even the compact one Bearskin grass (Festuca gautieri) is an ideal companion, especially in sunny, well-drained beds. Slightly taller ones can be integrated just as easily Penniseto 'Hameln' (Pennisetum alopecuroides) or the modern one Pfeifengras 'Moorhexe' (Molinia cerulea), which is characterized by an upright and elegant growth.

(Bearskin grass)

5. Design with care: Consciously display hydrangeas

In modern gardens, care is not an end in itself, but rather part of the design concept. Hydrangeas offer many options here:

• Conscious pruning For panicle and viburnum hydrangeas, it promotes a compact and uniform structure, ideal for clear lines.
• Group plantings Identical varieties appear calmer than single colored plants, especially in gravel or concrete beds.
• Limited color palette with flower colors supports the reduced overall impression, e.g. B. exclusively white or greenish-white varieties.

Designing with care means: shaping with scissors, repeating with selection and thus creating order through rhythm. Also at this level the sober and clear character of modern garden design is underlined.

Conclusion: clear structures, great impact

Hydrangeas are a great choice – they bring structure and abundance of flowers to your garden without being overwhelming. Whether as a solitary plant, in rhythmic plantings or combined with herbs and topiaries: with hydrangeas you can design your modern gardens clearly, harmoniously and at the same time lively.

If you wish, we will be happy to help you with specific planting planning, contact us!