Plant of the Week: MANTS Wrap up and Fire Light® Hydrangea paniculata

Last week I was at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) in Baltimore and was thrilled to see many of my favorite garden communicator friends, and I got the chance to make some new friends as well!

Here we all are! The GardenComm group.

Vendors show their wares at the press breakfast.

Thursday morning of the show, MANTS traditionally hosts a special press breakfast, which gives a few lucky presenters the opportunity to pitch their new products to the press and garden communicators, plus it gives our group a great chance to meet up and get some fun photo ops.

This year there was a purveyor of wrapping paper that is filled with wildflower seeds, a portable, indoor hydroponic growing system, and a new blight-resistant boxwood cultivar.

Lunch bunch.

I have to toot our own horn here as well, Proven Winners® ColorChoice®  Sprinter® and North Star® Buxus have also been identified as blight-resistant cultivars by NC State University Cooperative Extension and have been tough performers in landscapes for years. Don't believe me? Check out this video from Laura at Garden Answer!

Thursday lunch was across the street at the "Southern Kitchen" buffet where a smaller group of us spent an hour or so making introductions, exchanging business cards and learning about what's new and fun in the garden communicator world.

At the lunch, I learned a little more about square foot gardening from Kim Roman, met a new friend, John Boggan from DC Tropics, Kathy Jentz, Peggy Ricco, Nancy Robson, Katie Elzer-Peters, Jackie Gorski, Kirk Brown and another new friend from Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Herb Frazier, rounded out the group.

It was really a whirlwind trip for me, only one full day in Baltimore, but that one little trip caused me to miss my first weekly post on this blog since I took it over a year ago!

So let's get back on track with Jane's Plant of the Week which also happens to be the 2019 Proven Winners Hydrangea of the Year:

Not just hot - it's on fire! 

Fire Light® Hydrangea paniculata

Fire Light® Hydrangea paniculata is one of our most popular plants, and it's easy to see why.

Fire Light® Hydrangea paniculata

It has large, full, white flowers that transform to pink and finish the summer with a rich pomegranate-red color. The thick stems hold those flowers upright so everyone can see just how fabulous they are in the garden or when cut for an arrangement.

When you have show-stopping flowers on an easy-to-grow plant, you've got a winner. That's why Fire Light® is our 2019 Hydrangea of the Year. It was also the 2015 Shrub Madness® Champion.

Fire Light® grows 6-8' tall and wide, so give it some room to show off. It's hardy to USDA Zone 3, and will grow in full sun or partial shade. In Michigan, we find that the flower color is more intense in full sun.

We are big fans of H. paniculata. Winters in Michigan can be severe (although we've been pretty so lucky so far this season). Many of you in milder climates have been getting a taste of what we experience most years: snow, ice, more snow, and temperatures that have you doing an inventory of your toes at the end of the day. So maybe everyone will appreciate H. paniculata all the more this summer.

• It's cold hardy.
• It flowers every year - on new wood.
• It's forgiving of untimely pruning and rogue snow plows.

Just plant it, and go. For a good review of the various kinds of hydrangeas and how to be successful growing them, check out our Hydrangeas Demystified flyer. This continues to be our most popular educational piece, and we're happy to share it with you and your customers.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles.

See you next week!