Hydrangea Section Macrophyllae Cultivars G

Game Changer® Series

The key claim for this very new (post-2020) series of lacecaps is that flower induction is daylength neutral, and does not require a cold period, leading to long-flowering in diverse climates. (Note that remontant cultivars in general are known to be daylength neutral – Harraß, Gundermann & Tränkner 2023). Hardiness to Zone 5, and quick production (from unrooted cutting to flowering in 8–9 weeks) are also claimed. They are marketed in North America only, as ‘coast to coast’ garden plants, as well as for pots and hanging baskets. It is still too early to have seen impartial assessments of their garden performance. Bred by Jim Devereux of breeding / tissue culture company Green Fuse Botanicals, California, very little information about their background has been released, although as usual they are claimed simply as H. macrophylla. Protected by US Utility Patents – not Plant Patents – the applications read as remarkably uninformative and aggressive in scope compared with most US Plant Patents. We list ‘Hmopico04–0’ (GAME CHANGER® PICOTEE); Oregon grower Hydrangeas Plus suggests based on leaf shape that something in the H. scandens complex may be involved, making it an intersectional hybrid. (Green Fuse Botanicals 2024; Greenhouse Grower 2024; Avant Flora 2024; Google Patents 2024; Hydrangeas Plus 2024)

'Garden House Glory'

Sterile flowers purplish / pink to red, tending to red, with scarcely overlapping sepals; fertile flowers pigmented. Leaves tinted red, especially in autumn; height to 1.3 m, broader than tall; very hardy. Parentage H. ‘Rotschwanz’ × H. serrata ‘Tiara’; raised by Mark Fillan, Devon, UK, before 2012 and introduced by Pan-Global Plants, UK; named for what was Lionel Fortescue’s garden at Buckland Monachorum, Devon, with which Fillan has been associated. A sister seedling ‘Garden House Beauty’ tends towards light blue in flower but has been little distributed. (Edwards & Marshall 2019; Pan-Global Plants 2024; M. Fillan pers. comm. 2024)

Hydrangea 'Garden House Glory' at White House Farm, Kent, UK; 21 August 2015). Image Koen Camelbeke (Arboretum Wespelaar).

Hydrangea 'Garden House Glory' flowers tend to red. Image Maurice Foster.

Hydrangea 'Garden House Glory' is a known macrophylla × serrata hybrid (White House Farm, Kent, UK; 12 July 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

'Gartenbaudirektor Kühnert'

Flowers with entire sepals, a good mid-blue / indifferent purplish / pink; later flowering; height to 1.5 m (Church 2007; van Gelderen & van Gelderen 2004). Introduced 1926 by German nurseryman Friedrich Matthes, from his well-focused breeding program (Riedel 2015). Still in the European, North American and New Zealand trade in a small way.

Hydrangea 'Gartenbaudirektor Kühnert' in pink (Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium – 21 July 2016). Image © Jan De Langhe.

Hydrangea 'Gartenbaudirektor Kühnert' at Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium (21 July 2016). Image © Jan De Langhe.

'General Patton'

Flowers with entire sepals, violet / red-pink, but tending towards pink, in dense inflorescences. Rich, dark green leaves, claimed by Glyn Church to be the best foliage of any cultivar. Compact, height around 1 m. Introduced 1950 by the Draps-Dom nursery, Belgium. Largely forgotten in Europe, it remains popular in New Zealand (Church 2007; van Gelderen & van Gelderen 2004; Association Shamrock 2022). Named for the WWII American army general and celebrity dog owner.

'Générale Vicomtesse de Vibraye'

Flowers clear blue / light pink, in crowded heads; able to flower on side shoots, hence long-flowering; blooms reasonably well in colder areas. Leaves light green; stems rather thin and flexible, giving a loose, open shrub to about 2 m in height. Introduced 1908 by Émile Mouillère, France, the parentage given as ‘Otaksa’ × ‘Rosea’. A reliable European classic, best loved in its blue phase, a lovely clear shade for which the rather pale foliage is a perfect foil. The name is often shortened to ‘Vibraye’; some British enthusiasts affectionately refer to it as ‘The General’. (Boebel 2011; Church 2007; Foster 2023; van Gelderen & van Gelderen 2004; Association Shamrock 2022)

Hydrangea 'Générale Vicomtesse de Vibraye' makes a loose, open shrub (Benmore Botanic Garden, Argyll & Bute, UK; 23 August 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

Hydrangea 'Générale Vicomtesse de Vibraye', a much loved old mophead, especially in its blue phase (White House Farm, Kent, UK; 12 July 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

Hydrangea 'Générale Vicomtesse de Vibraye' early in flowering (private garden, Argyll & Bute, UK; 22 August 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

Colour variation on a single, long-established clump of Hydrangea 'Générale Vicomtesse de Vibraye' (White House Farm, Kent, UK; 12 July 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

Hydrangea 'Générale Vicomtesse de Vibraye' in pinkish mode at the Savill Garden, Windsor Great Park, UK, 12 July 2026. Image John Grimshaw.

'Gertrud Glahn'

Flowers blue / pink, in small neat heads quite early in the season. Erect habit with strong stems, height to about 1.25 m; very suitable for pot culture, perhaps explaining its longevity on the nursery trade. Introduced 1930 by Friedrich Matthes, Germany (Haworth-Booth 1984; Hydrangea Derby 2024; van Gelderen & van Gelderen 2004; Association Shamrock 2022). Commonly mispelt ‘Gertrude Glahn’.

Hydrangea 'Gertrud Glahn' has rather small, dense mophead inflorescences (Darley Park, Derby, UK; 28 August 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

'Gimpel'

(Teller Series, introduced 1987) Sterile flowers intense violet-blue / red-pink; fertile flowers whitish, in contrast; free-flowering, sometimes with late flowers on side shoots. Hardy, with strong shoots; height to1.25 m. Foster (2023) considers it a good plant for the open garden, but van Gelderen & van Gelderen (2004) rate it only as a pot plant. Gimpel is the Bullfinch, the male bird having a red-pink breast.

Hydrangea 'Gimpel', one of the Teller Series, retaining a good colour late in the flowering season (private garden, South Devon, UK; 2 November 2024). Image Tom Christian.

Hydrangea 'Gimpel' is a compact cultivar, good in pots but also for the open garden (private garden, South Devon, UK; 2 November 2024). Image Tom Christian.

'Goldie'

Flowers with entire sepals, white, in large heads. Leaves a striking and persistent yellow-green; best in some shade. Height about 1 m. Quite widely grown in New Zealand, where it is more or less evergreen; origin unknown but probably since 2000. (Woodleigh Nursery 2023; T. Christian pers. comm. 2023)

Leaves of Hydrangea 'Goldie' are a striking and persistent yellow-green (private garden near Dunedin, New Zealand; 24 November 2023). Image Tom Christian.

'Goliath'

Flowers with large serrate sepals, pale blue / soft pink, very changeable in colour and sometimes mixed within a single inflorescence; very large heads to 22 cm across, perhaps because the plant branches only sparsely; flowers well in cold upstate New York for Tim Boebel. Vigorous, height to 1.5 m. Introduced 1923 by Friedrich Matthes, Germany, France. Beware confusion with H. paniculata ‘Goliath’ (not described here). (Boebel 2011; van Gelderen & van Gelderen 2004; Association Shamrock 2022)

Hydrangea 'Goliath' in an intermediate lilac hue (JC Raulston Arboretum, North Carolina; 6 June 2023). Image Ira Tucker / JC Raulston Arboretum.

Hydrangea 'Goliath' has very large inflorescences (University of Washington Botanic Gardens, Seattle; 25 June 2014). Image Ross Bayton.

'Gotemba Nishiki'

Leaves with striking white margins, flushed pink at first. Sterile flowers pale centred, violet-blue / reddish pink. Found by T. Nagasaki, Japan; introduced in Europe 2023, where it attracted attention and divided opinion at the Chelsea Flower Show. Light shade is probably ideal to avoid leaf scorch (Rice 2023). Open-garden credentials yet to be established.

Hydrangea 'Gotemba Nishiki' (EUPHORIA PINK) at RHS Garden Wisley, UK. It is telling that it is being grown as a pot specimen (2 July 2024). Image Jack Aldridge.

Variegated Hydrangea 'Gotemba Nishiki' (EUPHORIA PINK) is eyecatching as a potted specimen, but its open-garden potential has yet to be properly evaluated (show specimen at Chelsea Flower Show, London; 23 May 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

The fabulous foliage of Hydrangea 'Gotemba Nishiki' (EUPHORIA PINK) makes a striking addition to a summer pot display in John Grimshaw's North Yorkshire garden, where its long-term persistence or performance is not an important consideration. Image John Grimshaw.

'Grant's Choice'

Sterile flowers with large, entire or serrate sepals, creamy white flushing lilac / pale pink from the edges; fertile flowers pigmented. Height 1.5 m or more. Selected from a garden seed batch (parentage unknown) sown during World War II by James Grant, head gardener at Grayswood Hill, Surrey, UK. ‘James Grant’ is a different plant from the same batch, often confused though quite different (Dinsdale 2013; Hydrangea Derby 2024; Lawson-Hall & Rothera 1995; van Gelderen & van Gelderen 2004). A ‘lovely, fresh and simple lacecap’ (Lawson-Hall & Rothera 1995).

Hydrangea 'Grant's Choice' making a bulky, spreading shrub (Avenue Cottage, Ashprington, Devon, UK; 17 October 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

Hydrangea 'Grant's Choice' in autumn (Avenue Cottage, Ashprington, Devon, UK; 17 October 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

'Grayswood'

Sterile flowers white, sometimes lightly flushed blue/pink, maturing to a strong shade, purplish or most characteristically red-pink, especially in sun, their sepals unequal, coarsely toothed towards the apex; fertile flowers purple/pink. Very vigorous, sometimes approaching 2 m tall, usually rather loose and open. Traditionally listed under H. serrata, but probably a hybrid. Found before 1948 at Grayswood Hill, Surrey, UK, it has become a tough and beloved classic of British gardens (Foster 2023; van Gelderen & van Gelderen 2004; Bean 1981).

Hydrangea 'Grayswood' is probably a serrata × macrophylla hybrid (White House Farm, Kent, UK; 12 July 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

Hydrangea 'Grayswood' flowers can mature red, especially in sun (Darley Park, Derby, UK; 28 August 2023). Image Julian Sutton.

Vigorous Hydrangea 'Grayswood' is a British garden classic (Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire, UK; 23 June 2024). Image Julian Sutton.

'Grenan'

Flowers blue/pink, remontant. Height around 1.5 m. Another of the original, very similar North American remontant finds, barely distinguishable from ‘All Summer Beauty’ and ‘Bailmer’ (ENDLESS SUMMER®). Introduced by Greenleaf Nurseries under their Garden Debut™ brand (Boebel 2011; Dirr 2021; Garden Debut 2024)