Tuff Stuff^™ Reblooming Mountain Hydrangea Hydrangea serrata

I love this hydrangea! I have had it in a large container for 3 years now on the south side of my home and every year it comes back beautifully. It is in partial shade and even with the humidity and high heat it hasn’t missed a beat. Every late fall I pack 2-3” of mulch around the soil and in the spring give it a good dose of fertilizer and some aluminum sulfate to bring out the blue. I have flowers everywhere about late June. Never expected it to do so well in a container. Can’t say enough about it!

Beautiful but not very “tuff”. Needs pampering with water in dry heat. I have mine in shade from afternoon sun and it still goes wilted on and off.

I planted 6 of these last year; two in containers and 4 in ground at two different locations (zone 5). The potted plants over wintered in my three seasons room and boomed when things warmed up. They are easily 30" high and wide and covered in blooms. The 4 planted in the ground died all the way back and are slowly growing this year. We had a very mild winter, and since these are to bloom on old and new wood, I didn't expect they would fully die back. It will be mid-July before there are any blooms. Two were planted in a southern exposure which I believe was too harsh for them. The summer heat gave them a beating, even with regular watering. I expected a plant named "Tuff Stuff" to be hardier. For a comparison, the Annabelle, planted at the same time in the same areas, are booming.

I purchased the tuff stuff hydrangea in April 2017. It had a couple of blooms when it arrived but after transplanting no additional blooms occurred for the remainder of the 2017 season. This year I have one bloom that occured in July 2018. Even with only one bloom this season it is beautiful. Overall it looks healthy and happy, I just wish for more blooms...hopefully next year. I live in zone 5a and it has survived two winters. For me it is not a fast grower but I did not expect it to be. Overall, I am happy with my purchase. I can't speak about it being a rebloomer because for me this has not yet occured.

Have had this plant for a season and a half. It is a vigorous producer of new stems compared to most hydrangea. Mine was killed to the ground in the Polar Vortex in zone 6B, but has rebounded with 40+ new stems. As with most new wood bloomers and rebloomers, most growth this year following the vortex came in the form of thick stems and large leaves with few blooms. There were around 5 total blooms around the base/perimeter of the plant, but that was it. I'd expect a lot more after a milder winter. The bloom performance was on par with staples like Endless Summer and the Let's Dance series, as nothing across the board bloomed very well this summer. I believe the advertised size should be bumped up a bit, since mine has grown from the ground to a height of 30" and a width of 50+" in one season alone. I'd imagine milder climates could see one of these reaching 5x5'!