Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Nigra’ – Black Stem Mophead Hydrangea
A beautiful heritage hydrangea cultivar with distinctive slender black stems, which add interest even when ‘Nigra’ is not in flower. Flower heads are large and rounded, with a charmingly untidy arrangement of blooms that are light rose-pink in alkaline soils, or light blue in acidic soils. Sepals are entire.
Flowering time is from January to March.
This frost tolerant shrub is deciduous, with leaves that turn yellow in autumn and drop to show off the black stems over winter.
‘Nigra’ is a Chinese cultivar that was introduced to Western cultivation in 1853 when it was imported to the United States by E. H. Wilson. Some time after that it made its way to the UK, and in 1895 ‘Nigra’ was awarded a First Class Certificate (FCC) by the Royal Horticultural Society. The FCC is no longer awarded, but was once very prestigious, and was given to plants “of outstanding excellence for exhibition”.
Height: 1.5 – 2 m. Width: 1.5 – 2 m.
Syn. Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Mandshurica’.
