Moonlight Japanese Hydrangea Vine. The silvery mottling on each leaf of this Hydrangea Vine makes an awesome display on a wall or fence in the shade garden. The species designation, "hydrangeoides" means "Hydrangea like." The flowers are similar to the species with their resemblance to the Climbing Hydrangea, but instead of multiple sepals per flower as with H. anomala petiolaris, it has a single 1-1 1/3" sepal on its flowers. I have seen this vine 80' high in the top of a Tulip Poplar, but it is better to limit its height to the top of a wall or fence so that it can be more visible when it flowers. It has an excellent yellow fall color. Native to Japan. I frankly think that this is not a legitimate cultivar, but rather a naturally occurring variety, for I have seen whole mountainsides in Japan covered in this selection with is pewter highlighted leaves. Another advantage of Schizophragma over Climbing Hydrangea is that it flowers when quite young. With the latter, one hopes that it flowers in ones lifetime. It will climb on almost any textured surface, such as a brick wall or wood.
Zones 5-8
