Oak leaf hydrangeas are an awesome landscape shrub to add to the garden. They get big and need room and enjoy part shade/part sun locations but if you have the right spot for one by all means add one! I’m always trying to propagate a few more but they tend to be rather tricky to propagate from cuttings. Layering is the easiest method and I’ve been 100% successful with that but the big drawback is you can only make a few at a time and you have to have suitable branches (low hanging). The advantage of cuttings is that you can make many more, however oak leaf hydrangea cuttings are difficult to root.
I’m pretty happy with my recent batch of oak leaf hydrangea cuttings. About two months ago I took 10 cuttings and followed the procedures for making oak leaf hydrangea cuttings. My rooting success was about 50%! Just so you know that’s a high for me. Some cuttings rotted away and were removed and one didn’t root at all but in the end I have 5 rooted cuttings of oak leaf hydrangea. You can find the secret trick to rooting oak leaf hydrangeas in this post.
The next challenge will be getting my new plants through the winter. Sometimes cuttings don’t have enough roots to successfully make it through the cold months. For now I have them in a sheltered spot next to the house in a shady location. Fortunately my oak leaf hydrangeas have about 6 weeks before the first frost comes and I can protect them from that with the garden shed. They should have a little time to grow some roots!
Have you planted an oak leaf hydrangea yet in your garden?
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I really want one of these in my yard. I don't know anyone who would share a cutting. I am so tempted to make a midnight raid on the ones at our Vet's office! LOL!
Dave, Your post reminded me of the beautiful oakleaf hydrangea I had depaxsiain my yard in Virginia when I lived there. It thrived and grew and was stunning in the fall.
Hi dave
Your way of gardening reminded me all about my childhood memories with my late mother. It made me realize some things that I really needed to do in order to cherish my ways of living.
I have had almost 100% success taking hardened wood cuttings from oak leaf hydrangea while it's dormant in the late winter. I have one plant that I let grow just to take cuttings from so I wont have to worry about disfiguring or cutting the potential blooms off my other ones . So, in the late winter when there's not much else to do, I take the cuttings and just bury them just below the surface of the ground with a tip sticking out in an area of my garden that gets morning sun and almost every one roots every time. I root old blue hydrangea the same way and a lot of other deciduous bushes and trees. You can root them in the summer but the rooting rate will be much much less, at least it has been for me.