‘Tuff Stuff Red’ Mountain Hydrangea

Hydrangea serrata ‘SMNMAKTSR’ USPP 28,672

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 5a-9b Find Your Zone

Shrub Type: Deciduous Flowering Shrub

Height at Maturity: 2-3′

Width at Maturity: 2-3′

Spacing: 2-2.5′ apart for solid hedges; 5′ or more apart for space between plants

Growth Habit / Form: Rounded Mound

Flower Color: Deep Pink fading to Purple and Red

Flower Size: 6 to 7 inch diameter flower clusters

Flowering Period: Reblooming from Early Summer through Fall

Flower Type: Lacecap

Fragrant Flowers: No

Foliage Color: Dark Green

Fragrant Foliage: No

Berries: NA

Berry Color: NA

Sun Needs: Part Shade, Morning Sun, Filtered Sun (South) – Sun or Part Shade (North)

Water Needs: Average, Lower when established

Soil Type: Clay (amend heavy clay to ensure good drainage), Loam, Sand (amend quick draining soil for moisture retention), Silt

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Moist But Well Drained

Soil pH: 6.0 – 8.5 (Moderately Acid to Moderately Alkaline)

Maintenance / Care: Low

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Cold, Heat, Humidity, Insect

Description

An absolutely beautiful reblooming Mountain Hydrangea, ‘Tuff Stuff Red’ features large lacecap clusters of waterlily-like florets in a deep pink. The large, leathery and lustrous dark green leaves on compact mounds 3 feet high and wide provide a wonderful backdrop for the flowers and turn an attractive bronze-red in fall. Tuff Stuff Hydrangeas do better in cold weather than their cousins but will also stand up to the heat to zone 9. Reblooming over a long season, Tuff Stuff Red begins blooming in early summer on last years growth and continues to produce flowers through the fall on new growth through fall. This makes it a fine choice for flowering shrub borders, home foundation plantings, small garden spaces and containers.

Landscape & Garden Uses

Growing 2 to 3 feet tall and wide in a rounded mound, Tuff Stuff Red Hydrangea is ideal for use as an accent in smaller garden spaces and containers or in groupings or as a low hedge in landscape, flowering shrub and woodland borders as well as home foundation plantings. A fine addition to hydrangea gardens, cottage gardens and pink gardens.

Suggested Spacing: 2 to 2.5 feet apart for solid hedges; 5 feet apart for space between plants

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Planting Zone 5a, where this Hydrangea variety is not reliably winter hardy outdoors, you can enjoy it in containers that can be moved indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Growing Preferences

The Tuff Stuff Red Hydrangea is very easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil with average fertility and full sun to part shade in northern zones 5 and 6 and part shade (morning sun with afternoon shade or filtered sun) in southern zones 7 to 9. For best flowering, we suggest 4 hours of direct sun light per day. As with so many other ornamental plants, a constantly soggy or wet soil is problematic.

Get tips for proper pruning time and technique in our article titled How To Prune Various Types Of Hydrangea

Helpful Articles

Click on a link below to find helpful advice from our experts on how to plant, fertilize, prune and water Hydrangea shrubs…

How To Plant Hydrangeas In The Ground & Pots

How To Prune Various Types Of Hydrangea

How To Fertilize And Water Hydrangeas

Plant Long & Prosper!

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