Merritt’s Supreme Hydrangea
Hydrangea macrophylla  ‘Merritt’s Supreme’
Plant DetailsÂ
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 6a-9b  Find Your Zone
Plant Type:Â Â Deciduous Flowering Shrub
Height at Maturity:Â 4-5′
Width at Maturity:Â 4-6′
Spacing:Â Â 3 to 3.5′ for solid hedges;Â 6’+ for space between plants
Growth Habit / Form:Â Bushy, Dense, Globose/Round, Mounding
Flower Color:Â Â Rose Pink
Flower Size:Â Large – Up to 6-8″
Flowering Period:Â Summer
Flower Type:Â Single in large clusters
Fragrant Flowers:Â No
Foliage Color:Â Green
Fragrant Foliage:Â No
Berries:Â Â NA
Berry Color:Â NA
Sun Needs:Â Part Shade (South) – Sun or Part Shade (North)
Water Needs:Â Â Average, Lower when established
Soil Type:Â Â Clay (amended), Loam, Sand (amended), SiltÂ
Soil Moisture / Drainage:Â Well Drained Moist
Soil pH:Â 6.0 – 8.0 (Moderately Acid to Moderately Alkaline)
Maintenance / Care:Â Low
Attracts:Â Visual Attention
Resistances:Â Deer –Â more info, Disease, Drought (when established in part shade), Heat, Humidity, Insect
Description
A compact mophead Hydrangea growing to only 3 to 4 feet tall and wide, ‘Merritt’s Supreme’ is a choice addition to the smaller garden or in containers. It features abundant rose-pink to red sterile florets in huge spherical flower clusters at the ends of sturdy, thick stems on dense, rounded plants sporting glossy dark green leaves. The flowers bloom over a long period of two months during summer before turning a lovely purple to plum color. This selection holds up exceptionally well as a cut flower or for drying.
Landscape & Garden Uses
Growing naturally 3 to 4 feet tall and wide in a rounded mound, Merritt’s Supreme Hydrangea is a great cultivar for garden beds or container culture. It provides great texture and color as an accent in home foundation plantings and in flowering shrub borders and perennial gardens. It is especially stunning in small to large groupings or as a dramatic, colorful hedge.
Suggested Spacing:Â Â 3 to 3.5 feet apart for solid hedges;Â 6 feet or more apart for space between plants
Note:Â For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6a, where this Hydrangea is not winter hardy, you’ll be happy to know that it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and place back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.
Growing Preferences
Merritts Supreme 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 and part shade (morning sun with afternoon shade or filtered sun) in southern zones. 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.
Note:  Merrits Supreme is a Hydrangea macrophylla species that produces its flowers from buds that formed on “old wood” (during the previous year). This means that even though it is tempting to cut them back in the winter, when they are only bare sticks jutting out of the ground, don’t do it. The flower buds are already formed and hidden in those bare sticks, so don’t cut them off if you want flowers.
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
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