Light O Day Hydrangea

Light Needs

Part Shade to Full Sun

(3+ Hours Direct Sun)

Mature Height

4-5 Feet

Mature Spread

4-5 Feet

Growing Zones

5 to 8

Light O Day Hydrangea brings a unique green-middled to white-tipped variegated foliage appeal to any landscape. Featuring disk-shaped flower buds that bloom into delightful white blooms, each flower turns into a light shade of blue or pink – dependent on the acidity of the soil. This shrub will indeed live up to its name! In late spring, the flowers will begin appearing and last through early summer. Variegated hydrangeas tend to revert back to solid colored foliage when under stress, however Light O Day Hydrangea is reversion-resistant and will not leave you disappointed. The span of this shrub is 4’-5’ tall by 4’-5’ wide and has great potential for planting other small shrubs, perennials or annuals around its base to create a finished look.

Light O Day Hydrangea is an excellent shrub to plant within border planting, individual specimen planting or container planting. Its mounding habit creates an appealing aesthetic in any landscape and you may prune to your desired shape and size. Its blooms are pollinator friendly and will bring lots of winged visitors to your landscape.

Light O Day Hydrangea Plant Care

This gorgeous shrub prefers partial shade (4 hours or less of sunlight per day). When planting, determine whether you wish to have the flowers develop into light shades of blue or pink. To achieve blue shades, your soil must be acidic with a pH of 5.5 or less. For pink shades, alkaline pH soil may be used. To continue controlling the colors each year, use aluminum sulfate for blue shades or highly-phosphorus fertilizer or garden lime for pink shades. 

Fertilize once a year May-July. It is best to apply the fertilizer either along the drip-line or after you have soaked the plants completely, so as to not burn the roots with the fertilizer. Plant in soil that is well draining, but dense enough to retain moisture without submerging the roots. You can plant in clay, loam or sandy soil.

When first establishing Light O Day Hydrangea, water ½ gallon directly on the root base 3-4 times a week for six weeks. Afterwards, water once every 1-2 weeks when the weather is warm and dry. If you’re receiving regular rainfall once or twice a week, supplemental watering will be minimal.

To keep blooms coming each year, it is pertinent to withhold pruning until the blooms have faded away. However, you do not want to wait too long to prune as you may remove the slow-growing flower buds that develop for the next season. In the case of Light O Day Hydrangea, wait until at least ¾’s of the blooms have faded or turned brown before pruning to shape or rejuvenate.

Light O Day Hydrangea Plant Spacing

With its span of 4’-5’, determine how dense you wish to have your shrub line or companion plants. For a dense look, plant 4’ apart. For planting around other companion plants, keep at least 5’-6’ of space between this shrub and other plants.

In container planting, that space will not be logical and smaller flowering plants may be within 6”-12” of the base of the Light O Day Hydrangea. Monitor the plants that are within the same container and thin out as needed to provide plenty of space for growth.

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