Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha Hydrangea

Hydrangea serrata ‘SMNHSDD’ USPP 29382 CBRAF

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 5a-9b Find Your Zone

Shrub Type: Deciduous Flowering Shrub

Height at Maturity: 2-3′

Width at Maturity: 2-3′

Spacing: 2′ apart for solid hedges; 4-5’or more apart for space between plants

Growth Habit / Form: Bushy, Dense, Globose/Round, Mounding

Flower Color: Blue in acid soil, Pink in neutral or alkaline soil

Flower Size: Large – up to 8″ inch diameter

Flowering Period: Summer and Fall

Flower Type: Lacecap

Fragrant Flowers: No

Foliage Color: Green, Bronze-Red in Fall

Fragrant Foliage: No

Berries: NA

Berry Color: NA

Sun Needs: Part Shade, Morning Sun, Filtered Sun (South) – Sun or Part Shade (North)

Water Needs: Average, Lower when established

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

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Well Drained Moist

Soil pH: 6.0 – 8.5 (Moderately Acid to Moderately Alkaline)

Maintenance / Care: Low

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Disease, Drought (when established in part shade), Heat, Humidity, Insect

Description

An absolutely beautiful reblooming Mountain Hydrangea, Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha® produces massive, dinner plate size clusters of some of the largest, waterlily-like florets we’ve ever seen on a Hydrangea…and the florets are double with two to three rows of petals! The flowers can range from blue to pink depending on soil pH – you choose the color. Aluminum sulfate can be applied to increase the acidity of the soil and maintain blue florets and flowers whole pelletized lime can be added for pink florets and flowers. The large, leathery, dark green leaves provide a wonderful backdrop for the flowers and turn an attractive bronze-red in fall.

Landscape & Garden Uses

Growing 2 to 3 feet tall and wide in a rounded mound, Tuff Stuff Ah Ha Hydrangea can be grown in garden beds or containers. In smaller garden spaces it’s ideal for use as a specimen or accent in home foundation plantings, flowering shrub borders and perennial gardens. In larger landscape spaces it is especially dramatic in small to large groupings or in straight or staggered rows as a colorful low hedge.

Suggested Spacing: 2 feet apart for solid hedges; 4-5 feet apart for space between plants

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Planting Zone 5a, where this Hydrangea variety is not reliably winter hardy outdoors, you can enjoy it in containers that can be moved indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Growing Preferences

The Tuff Stuff Ah Ha Hydrangea is very easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil with average fertility and full sun to part shade in northern zones and part shade (morning sun with afternoon shade or filtered sun) in southern zones. For best flowering, we suggest 4 hours of direct sun light per day. As with so many other ornamental plants, a constantly soggy or wet soil is problematic. Flower color is your choice. Acidic soils will make blue flowers while a neutral to slightly alkaline soil will make pink flowers.

Get tips for proper pruning time and technique in our article titled 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, fertilize, prune and water Hydrangea shrubs…

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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