Limelight Pee Gee Hydrangea

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 3a-8b Find Your Zone

Plant Type: Deciduous Flowering Shrub

Height at Maturity: 7-8′

Width at Maturity: 6-7′

Spacing: 5′ for solid hedges; 12’+ for space between plants

Growth Habit / Form: Dense, Rounded, Upright

Flower Color: Chartreuse, fading to Cream and then to Pink!

Flower Size: Large – up to 12 inches long

Flowering Period: Summer thru Fall

Flower Type: Single in large clusters

Fragrant Flowers: No

Foliage Color: Green

Fragrant Foliage: No

Berries: NA

Berry Color: NA

Sun Needs: Full Sun in North, Part Shade in South

Water Needs: Average, low when established

Soil Type: Clay (amended), Loam, Sand (amended), Silt

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Well Drained Moist

Soil pH: 6.0 – 8.0 (Moderately Acid to Moderately Alkaline)

Maintenance / Care: Very Low

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Deer – more info, Disease, Drought (when established in part shade), Heat, Humidity, Insect, Sun

Description

As the dog days of late summer set in and most flowering plants are fading out from their summer performances, one shrub will take center stage in your landscape or garden with a commanding presence similar to that of the Chinese Snowball Viburnum: the Limelight Hydrangea. With its huge, 8 to 12 inch long snow cone-shaped flower clusters, Limelight Hydrangea puts on a spectacular show of color in the garden mid-summer through fall. The flowers of Limelight emerge a chartreuse color turning to cream before fading to deep pink in the fall. Soil pH does not effect bloom color. As an added bonus, Limelight blooms make great cut flowers for use in both fresh or dried floral arrangements.

Landscape & Garden Uses

Growing in an upright rounded form 7 to 8 feet tall and 6 to 7 feet wide, the Limelight Hydrangea makes an impressive shrub or tree form specimen all on its own. That said, groupings and hedges of this cultivar are even more spectacular. Also a nice addition to mixed flowering shrub borders, as an accent in home foundation plantings, as a background in perennial gardens, and in large pots, planters or other containers of 18 inches or more in diameter. A fine addition to white color theme gardens and cut flower and cottage gardens.

Suggested Spacing: 5 to 6 feet apart for solid hedges; 12 feet apart for space between plants

Growing Preferences

Limelight Hydrangea is exceptionally easy to grow when planted right and in the right spot. Almost any moist but well-drained soil of average fertility will do. Limelight can take the heat at our location here in north-central Georgia, but it’s also exceptionally cold hardy, withstanding even the coldest winter temperatures as far north as USDA Zone 3a, where it will also tolerate full, all day sun. In the South, zones 7 and below, it will tolerate full sun, but we think it performs and looks its best with some filtered sun or dappled shade during the hottest hours of summer afternoons. At least 5 hours of direct sunlight per day or all day lightly filtered sun is suggested for best flowering. Too much shade and plants become floppy with diminished flowering.

Note: Limelight is a Hydrangea paniculata species that produces its flowers from buds that are formed on “new wood” (the current season’s growth). This means you don’t want to prune them in late spring or summer when they’re preparing to bloom.

For proper pruning time and techniques on various types of Hydrangea see: How To Prune Various Types Of Hydrangea

Helpful Articles

Click on a link below to find helpful advice from our experts on how to plant and care for Hydrangeas.

How To Plant Hydrangeas In The Ground & Pots

How To Prune Various Types Of Hydrangea

How To Fertilize And Water Hydrangeas

Plant Long & Prosper!

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