The purpose of this web-site is to show the bushy hydrangeas grown at Cooltonagh in all their variability, and to comment on the difficulty of identifying garden varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla. The study was started in 1998, in an attempt to identify one plant, codenamed “Matador”, by buying examples of all those that had been grown here from 1974 to 1980, of which “Matador” was the sole survivor on site.
Other kinds were also acquired, with the idea of seeing which were the most satisfactory in the milder parts of County Londonderry. There were plenty of bushy hydrangeas grown in our district, but hardly any of their varietal names were known.
The photographs from 2005 onwards are from digital images. All the earlier ones are from colour slides. Some of the better-defined ones may be clicked to generate a screen-height image.
Mophead hydrangea growing at
Glencolmcille, Co Donegal
Lacecap hydrangea growing
at Brook Hall, Co Derry
General remarks and observations are gathered into the last page, entitled “Commentary” - hopefully, they will become more interesting as web-site visitors’ input is added.
Created entirely with SERIF’s WebPlus 9
This is edition 1, dated 16 January 2006.