Some people love the uniqueness of green hydrangeas and some wonder why their bright blue blooms fade away to ugly green. Everyone is different. But if you wonder where green blooms come from – they are seldom found in nurseries – the answer is they come from blue blooms, and sometimes from late in the season white-flowering plants (Blushing Bride).
The Limelight hydrangea can also have green flowers, especially in early stages of growth. It’s flower is elongated in shape so it is different than the blue macrophylla, big leaf hydrangea, I’m writing about here.
When I grew hydrangeas in my New England yard, my favorite time of year was end of summer. The blooms would begin to fade and change color. Sometimes they didn’t look all that great, and at other times the Fall colors could be even more beautiful.
Fading pink bloom
I didn’t have pink flowering hydrangeas. Mine bloomed white (Blushing Bride) or blue (Endless Summer). Usually the blue flowers would turn an amazing green color, like the picture below.
Blue hydrangea bloom fading to green and pink
Even the dried flowers left on stems add beauty to a winter landscape.
Dried hydrangea bloom still on the stem as snow falls.
Fading Pink Hydrangea Bloom
Fall is an awesome time to look forward to. Summer heat is gone, and changes in the yard bring new colors to enjoy. Don’t be sad. Spring and summer will come again and offer a whole new set of flowers to enjoy.
Pale green and pink hydrangea flower
All flower photos on this page came from the free, public domain site Pixabay.
The huge blooms of the limelight hydrangea change from white to pale green to pink.
One hydrangea that has cone-shaped, panicled flowers is the limelight variety. I’m using my own photos on this post to show the stages of the limelight hydrangea flower, as it grows from spring through the fall season. All pictures on this page were taken from the same flowering shrubs in my front yard, but throughout their growth period.
Hydrangeas can produce some of the most spectacular light green flowers, and the limelight does not disappoint. Brides love this flower to accent any wedding theme, and it’s often chosen to create stunning centerpieces.
In spring, this perennial sends out tall stems. Eventually buds form, with many little clusters of flowers shooting out along the end of the branch. This is the panicle, which makes this a hydrangea paniculata. These tiny clusters will each grow and merge to form a resulting, huge single bloom.
Panicle Hydrangea Buds
The flowers are the greenest when they are first growing. The buds open from the bottom to the top, creating a flower that is a combination of soft white to light green.
Filling In, The Flower Expands
My limelight shrubs are fairly new to the yard. They were planted in 2012, and I am still learning about how to prune and grow them successfully. Fortunately hydrangeas are very hardy, and even if you do something ‘wrong’ they will continue to grow nicely.
White Hydrangea Flowers
Once the blooms fill out they are mostly white, and big and puffy looking. This hydrangea creates some of the most stunning blooms you’ll ever see.
As summer passes, the white flowers begin to turn pale pink and become darker during the autumn months. They can be cut to use in an inside arrangement, or left to dry on the bush (see my last photo on this page).
Big White Limelight Bouquet
My photos above and below show the pink-tinted hydrangea flowers as they appear in the fall season. The flowers are massive, and the petals that were once a creamy white are now turning partially pale green and mauve pink.
Fall Limelight Blooms
My plants are fairly young. As the plants age, the stems will fill in and become stronger. I’ve seen them staked to hold the flowers upright, as they are heavy and tend to flop downward.
The Limelight hydrangea can be pruned into a little tree, but that takes skill and patience. I have never tried to create a hydrangea tree, but they are stunning accents to any landscape. The flowers hold up well into fall and become dried garden decor.
October Limelight – Dried Flower With a Late, White Bloom
Hydrangeas are fun to grow. You just never know what they may do, like pop out a new bloom in October! When all the other flower heads were dried and brown, suddenly a new white flower emerged from my Limelight (photo above).
I hope you have enjoyed my photos, and maybe I have inspired you to grown one (or more) of these lovely hydrangea shrubs.
Now, would you like to see the stages of the Pinky Winky blooms?
Color changes in the hydrangea flower as the season progresses brings green, pink and blue blooms.
This page is about growing hydrangeas in my New England yard. The soil is naturally acidic and it is not difficult to grown blue flowering hydrangeas. However, as the season progresses, those blue flowers turn into pinks and greens and even unique blue colors.
This flower went from blue to lavender
My beautiful blue Endless Summer hydrangea flower turned to light lavender as last season progressed. Sometimes the blues turn pink, or even green. It’s what makes growing hydrangeas so exciting, the fact that flowers will start out one color and turn to something completely different.
I love this gorgeous light purple flower. The newly planted shrub is not very large and last year it had only about 5 or 6 blooms. The heavy weight of the flowers on the smaller stems weighed them down, but each year the plant will do better.
Endless Summer that has turned light green in Fall
Right now it’s too early to see much happening with my hydrangea bushes. I keep coming across pictures I took last summer and fall, so I’ll have to share those for the time being.
A blue flower drying on the stem in Autumn turns all kinds of gorgeous colors
I won’t be buying any more new plants, as I am currently on a very tight budget, but I plan to propagate hydrangeas from the plants I already have.
Propagating from the endless summer and mop-head varieties is easy, but it takes time and some planning. Some people start plants from cuttings, but I have not had luck with that.
Another flowering hydrangea in my yard is fun to watch. The Pink Winky has elongated flowers that turn from white to pink. It is a gorgeous bush.
Keep Reading
My newer blog posts are about gardening in my Florida backyard.
The unique lenton rose flower will poke out of the snow in early spring.
This is a photo blog post showing some images of the two Lenton rose (hellebore) plants growing in my yard. This is a new plant for me to grow, but I love the fact that the buds form and flowers bloom in mid-April. Sometimes there is still snow on the ground!
It’s a pleasant thing to find flowers blooming after a long, cold winter.
Hellebore Flowers are Unique
Besides blooming early in Spring before most other perennials, the flowers of the Lentos Rose are unique.
Flower colors can be pink, beige, white, light green or spotted. The flowers will stay on the plant and turn color too.
Early blooming hellebores can bloom before daffodils and tulips!
The flower is unique and comes in a variety of colors. The light green flower is coveted by brides for their wedding bouquets. Finding green flowers in nature is always a treat, but the light pink and spotted varieties are stunning as well.
This is one plant that I would like to have more of in my garden. This perennial is easy to grow and blooms profusely. As you can see, the leaves are nice and green even after being covered in snow all winter! After the flowering stops, the green leaves continue to grow all summer and add interest to the landscape.
I’ll keep my eyes open for other varieties when I visit the local nursery this year.
The Limelight hydrangea (paniculata) is popular for it’s size and stunning, large white flowers that become light green. The shrub will grow to be very large (8-9 feet tall and can be pruned into a tree) and the blooms last from mid-summer through Fall when the flowers may change color becoming pinkish.
The best thing about hydrangeas, besides their huge flowers, color variety (as if that wasn’t enough!) is their long lasting blooms. Does any other flower last as long? I can’t think of one. And then in fall, the flowers can be dried to last all winter. Show me something better!
I don’t know much about the limelight hydrangea, so I am finding out.
It is hardy in zones 3-8
Very hardy and can withstand drought conditions once established
Flower color can’t be changed by soil amendments
Flowers are held upright on the end of stems (no dragging on the ground)
Hydrangeas Blue 