Hydrangea Annabelle

Hydrangea 'Annabelle' is a much-loved deciduous hydrangea famous for its enormous, rounded heads of creamy-white flowers. Beginning lime-green before opening to crisp white, the blooms can reach an impressive size and are produced in abundance from summer into autumn.

Unlike many traditional mophead hydrangeas, Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' flowers on new season's wood. This makes pruning refreshingly straightforward – you can cut it back hard during winter and still get a fantastic flower display the following summer. It's also a particularly useful characteristic in colder gardens, where frost damage to old stems won't necessarily cost you the season's flowers.

'Annabelle' forms a rounded, leafy shrub with fresh green foliage and works beautifully planted in groups beneath deciduous trees, along a shady boundary or as part of a mixed perennial and shrub border. The huge white flower heads are also fantastic for picking and can be dried for indoor arrangements.

If you want the classic Hydrangea look without having to remember whether you're about to prune off next year's flowers, 'Annabelle' is a very good place to start.