Some hydrangeas beguile us with color changes that keep us guessing. Others awe us by climbing 60 feet and more to consort with squirrels and orioles in the trees. There are more than 100 species, so a gardener can experiment to his or her heart's content with different kinds. Everybody knows the beautiful big globes of pink, blue or white, but a few are veritable kaleidoscopes in a single season.
Hydrangeas come as small trees, too.
Not the least of their talents, particularly the climbers, is their tolerance of at least some shade. But at the seaside, hydrangeas thrive in full sun. You see them everywhere in beach gardens. Hydrangeas do best in southern and central zones and are chancy farther north than Zone 5. In very cold areas, they're grown in containers and sheltered in the winter.