Hydrangea 'Quercifolia' 17 October 2025

Gardeners, and I am one, like to apply the word noble to plants that are easy to grow and perform without fuss. It is especially so in the use of the word noble (pronounced naw-bleh) in Spanish. If you have a good friend that comes to your help “es un amigo noble”.

Rosemary and I had 37 varieties, including species, of hydrangea in our large Kerrisdale garden. When we moved to Kits I picked only three. One of them is Hydrangea 'Quercifolia' (quercus is the botanical name for the oak tree). This hydrangea grows wild in the state of Georgia.

All the very large inflorescences are now brown but there are two or three that are small and white like in spring. This hydrangea and some odd confused rose might make the last of my plant scans for the year.

In Spanish the common name for a hydrangea is hortensia. This lovely sounding name was a popular name for women in the past century. Hortus is Latin for garden.