Like a pop star in the music industry, Pop Star® bigleaf hydrangea is sure to get attention for its showy features and outstanding performance. This shrub is a part of the vastly popular Endless Summer® series. Ever since that group of plants was first introduced in 2001, each subsequent addition has gotten better, with Pop Star® now topping the charts.
This hydrangea was bred with a tall order of specific objectives: to be compact, disease resistant, and easy to grow, and to have increased remontant (blooming more than once a season) flowers appearing earlier. I’m happy to report Bailey Nurseries certainly achieved their desired result. This bigleaf hydrangea is indeed compact and cold hardy, with the ability to bloom on old wood, even in Zone 4. It features disease-resistant foliage, vibrant electric-blue or pink flower color (depending on the pH), and a faster rebloom speed than other hydrangeas that flower repeatedly.
Pop Star® is a true standout. Among all the bigleaf hydrangeas that I have grown, including every member of the Endless Summer® series, this selection produces the most blooms for its size at the fastest rate. Because it is a lacecap, it might get compared to Endless Summer® Twist-n-Shout® (H. macrophylla ‘PIIHM-I’), but they are quite different. Twist-n-Shout® is a big plant, reaching 4 to 6 feet tall and wide in just a few years. It belongs deeper in a bed or along a larger foundation planting. Reaching 18 to 36 inches tall and wide, Pop Star® is better suited at the front of a border. Because of its compact size and hardiness, it also works well in pots.
In my home garden, as well as at the University of Tennessee Gardens, Jackson, Pop Star® never fails to bloom. Even after being frozen to the ground during the 2022 Christmas holiday arctic blast, Pop Star® rallied. In fact, it was the first hydrangea in my garden to form flowers on its new growth after the freeze.
Lacecap hydrangeas are often overlooked at nursery and garden centers because they don’t have the highly desired, huge mophead cluster of mostly sterile flowers known as sepals. Lacecaps like Pop Star®, however, have true flowers in the center of the head, which provide a food source for pollinators. They should be considered more regularly as a top landscape choice for their elegance and reliability.
As with all bigleaf hydrangeas in warmer regions, Pop Star® is best grown in morning sun and afternoon shade, or dappled shade throughout the day, but it will tolerate more sun in cooler climates. It is happiest in moist, well-drained soil amended with organic matter.
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Pop Star® bigleaf hydrangea Hydrangea macrophylla ‘BAILMACSIX’ Zones: 4–9 Conditions: Partial shade; average, Native Range: Japan |
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SOURCES
Fieldstone Gardens, Vassalboro, ME; 207-923-3836; fieldstonegardens.com
Spring Hill Nursery, Harrison, OH; 513-354-1509; springhillnursery.com
Jason Reeves has been putting plants to the test at the University of Tennessee in Jackson since 2002 and can be followed on Facebook at “Jason Reeves – in the garden.”
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