Selecting Hydrangeas for Your Tulsa Garden

For good reason hydrangeas are one of the most popular landscape shrubs. These beautiful, blooming shrubs are known for producing ball-shaped clusters of small flowers nice mix of colors like pink, blue, purple, and white. Gardeners in Tulsa often love them for their rich blooms that seem to blanket a garden with color.

But with the sometimes extreme and often inconsistent Oklahoma weather, life can be difficult for hydrangeas here. They commonly need a great deal of care to survive the intense Oklahoma heat. So, which varieties of these gorgeous shrubs seem do best in Oklahoma you ask?


There is a reblooming kind hydrangea that blossoms every few weeks in the summer and fall; known as The Endless Summer hydrangea, it can endure the winter weather in Oklahoma better than other varieties and can bloom on both new and old wood. These do best in a partly-shaded area that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. These hydrangeas, like other varieties, need  rich, moist soil that drains well. While they need a lot of water, they don’t do well in soggy or constantly wet areas.

Another kind of hydrangea known as, The Annabelle hydrangea is said to be one of the hardiest with some of the longest blooms.

Examiner.com tells us, “With adequate moisture, ‘Annabelle’ laughs at the Oklahoma summertime,” “Further, because ‘Annabelle’ flowers on new growth, she is never badly hurt by late freezes.”

Annabelles generally bloom from early June through September in Oklahoma. These beautiful landscape shrubs bloom to a bright white before they turn to light green again. The Annabelle is seen to be more drought-tolerant than others and has great disease resistance.
The Oakleaf hydrangeas is also said to be an easier hydrangea to cultivate. Instead of the ball-shaped or “mophead” flower type, the Oakleaf has a unique cone-shaped clusters of white flowers and oak-like leaves that turn a beautiful reddish-purple in the fall.

Because all of these hydrangeas require moist, rich soil, Englishgardens.com recommended adding fertilizer to them during summer while they’re growing. And the vast majority, if not all hydrangeas, will do better planted in the shade or partial-shade, out of the hot afternoon sun.

For more assistance in landscaping your garden, please contact the Tulsa landscape design specialists at Oklahoma Landscape. We can design and build a landscape with the perfect flowers and shrubs for your home’s architecture and that will thrive in the Oklahoma climate.