It's a roller coaster ride. Leaves are perky at night; wilting during the day. Hydrangea stomata don't cooperate. We explain what stomata are and the steps to take to help your hydrangeas thrive.

There's no simplicity to any hydrangea species and wild hydrangea is no exception. Let's wade into this particular hydrangea thicket together and figure out some of the eccentricities.

Hydrangeas flower either on old wood or new wood. That's hydrangea lingo for if they flower on stems from last year (the old wood) or stems from this year (the new wood, also called new growth). Pruning time depends on if the hydrangea flowers on old wood or new wood. Let us explain here . . .

Remontant hydrangeas rebloom in the fall. Free flowering hydrangeas flower more freely, yet are not remontant. Learn the nuances here.

Panicle describes the cone-shaped flowers of two hydrangea species. Botanical  terminology uses the word panicle to describes the complicated structure of these hydrangea flower heads - the cones of flowers we love in our midsummer gardens. We'll tell you more about that and explain what helps them antique their best shades of rose.

The mophead types are, literally, the Garden Variety Hydrangea types. They were selected by people to grow in their gardens because they are bigger than the wild lacecap types and therefore more bodacious. Learn about their showy sepals here.

Lacecaps are the wild hydrangeas set up by nature to have two kinds of florets in the lacy flower heads. The showy outer florets ring the edge of the head. Their job is to attract pollinating insects to the less-showy inner fertile florets. It's the job of the fertile flowers to make fruit/seeds and reproduce so the species lives on.

We've asked Mariana DiVita to explain the differences between types of hydrangeas. Experts say there are 25 to 80 different species of hydrangeas, but for the average gardener 6 are the most popular. Each species has different cultural requirements - no matter your garden or garden style there is a hydrangea for you!

Mariana DiVita says, "If the mophead hydrangea is the Diva Queen of the garden, then I would say the oakleaf hydrangea is King." One reason she loves oakleaf hydrangea is it's not just a one season wonder. It has all season interest and she'll explain those assets right here.

Hydrangea serrata (mountain hydrangea) is very similar to Hydrangea macrophylla. So much so that some botanists think it's a variety of macrophylla. Because of a few qualities that strongly distinguish it from macrophylla, we treat them as a distinct species. We'll delve into those different qualities here.

It's the heat of summer and while those spring hydrangeas are a distant memory, there's a hydrangea that will be the show stopper for your summer garden. It's Hydrangea paniculata (panicle hydrangea) with its midsummer extravaganza of blooms. Read how we recommend you take care of it.

Did you know that our beauty queen hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla, combats aluminum toxicity with its flowers? It’s well known that pH influences flower color on bigleaf hydrangeas, but how this happens is even more interesting than pH alone. Here’s the science behind the flower color.

'Irish Lace' is so exotic looking that we are asked, "is it cold hardy?" One parent, 'Lady in Red', is believed to be one of the hardiest macrophyllas. The other parent, H. angustipetala, is likewise known to be a cold-hardy hydrangea. I double checked with the breeder and he says the hybrid is hardy in 6a. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

For this question about Hydrangea macrophylla (commonly called bigleaf or French hydrangea), we've asked Mariana DiVita to help us understand the flowering whims of this hydrangea species. Mariana is a Master Gardener from Cherokee County, Georgia.

Dear hydrangea pilgrim, you're freed! You don't have to prune your hydrangea. There are a few circumstances when you'd want to ask yourself, "is it necessary to prune my hydrangea? We'll discuss them right now.

Deadwood in a hydrangea is defined as last's years stems that have died. They look coarse and scraggly and it's time for them to go. We're going to explain how to prune deadwood from Hydrangeas macrophylla, bigleaf hydrangea. How-to video included.

Deadheading bigleaf hydrangea flowers is easy and I find it relaxing as can be. Here's a video that shows you how to do it.

Good garden parenting for Christmas Hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) is actually pretty easy. But . . . there are some important things to consider and I'm going to carefully explain them. 

Robert Mallet presented lovely hydrangea pairings from the Shamrock collection at the American Hydrangea Society's October 2017 meeting.