This astonishingly lovely hydrangea is Tuxedo® Purple with inky dark foliage and lace cap flowers (which also come in the full mop head form if that’s your preferred thing).
Here’s something we’ve all done – been impulsive and brought a plant home from the garden centre. It was sitting there looking very special and before you know it, you’ve decided to treat yourself. Home it comes… to brighten your day, or week or, if you’ve hit the jackpot, you have years of loveliness to look forward to. And if you happen to spot a Tuxedo® hydrangea to bring home, you will have years of joy ahead. For these reasons…
1.It has inky black leaves. Hence its name. The foliage takes equal billing to the flowers which is a major bonus because it looks very, very good both before it flowers as well as afterwards. Depending on the light levels where you grow your Tuxedo hydrangea, the leaves will vary in how much black and green you get, and if you want the darkest option, look for Tuxedo Black Tie.
This is Hydrangea Tuxedo® Black Tie early in the season before it has put on its red flower show. There is a hint of green in the veins of the leaves but the foliage is unquestionably dark.
2. Tuxedo hydrangea’s flowers are in your face. In a good way of course. They come in both hydrangea flower formats: the mop head or the lace cap where the central bracts are held in tightly closed buds. They are large. They come in gorgeous colours – hot pink, red and purple. And they are produced from early spring.
Here’s the easiest way to see what mop head and lace cap look like. These are both Pink Tuxedo® hydrangeas – the one above is a mop head and below is a lace cap.
3.This is a neat and healthy hydrangea. Tuxedo® hydrangea knows how to behave and will never grow into a tall, gangly, rangy beast. Instead, it forms a dense mound of foliage and flowers around three feet high and across. Hydrangea Tuxedo has also been bred so that it’s rarely affected by pests or diseases. So by being impulsive you are rewarded in a big way!
Follow these 5 tips for picking the best plants and you’ll easily spot the plants that will never disappoint, like this mop top Hydrangea Tuxedo®.
Have you ever bought something only to realise later at home that it’s a bit ordinary? It happens to us all the time simply because retailers do a great job making everything look fantastic and ‘must-have’. The same rule applies to plants: it’s too easy to grab a pretty little thing from the garden centre that ends up being disappointing. To prevent this ever happening again, arm yourself with these 5 tips for picking the best plants…
1. Look at the flowers: which you probably are anyway as most plants will be on sale at a time when they are in flower and looking their best. Ask yourself, is the flower interesting? Are there a lot of them on the plant and are there lots of unopened buds (aka future flowers)? Is there something special and different about the flower? Like lace cap Hydrangea Strawberries & Cream®; the mega-flowered Daphne Perfume Princess™; or the spotted throat of Alstroemeria Rock & Roll®. If you manage to tick just two of these boxes, you’ve found something that will hold its own once it arrives back at your place.
The flower needs to be special: Daphne Perfume Princess™ has the biggest, most glorious flowers around.This close-up of Strawberries & Cream® hydrangea shows how much more a plant can give when it has lots of flowers and they’re interesting.
2. Look at the leaves: there aren’t many plants that flower all the time so it makes sense to check out the foliage. Again, ask yourself, what’s interesting about the leaves? Their color, shape, texture? If the plant has a good shape as well then it will keep you smiling year round. A list worth checking out: Hydrangea Tuxedo® for its purple black leaves; the glossy sunbursts of colour from the Pacific™ coprosmas; Tropicanna® canna’s rainbow of stripes.
With Coprosma Pacific™ Sunset, it’s all about the glossy foliage.Tuxedo® hydrangeas have brilliant purple-black foliage to fall back on when the buds or flowers aren’t in the spotlight.
3. Gift worthy-ness: take a hard look at the plant you’re considering and ask yourself, would I give this as a present to someone? If the answer is yes, then you’re probably making a good selection. Gift-worthy plants look good right now. They can be treated as living flowers to dress up the house.
4. A longer game plan: there is real satisfaction in bringing home a lovely plant, enjoying it in and around the home for a while and then being able to plant it outside in a container or into the garden where it matures into something even bigger and better. To spot those plants which will give you this option just take a closer look at the plant labels and punch any plant’s name into Google to find out everything you need to know about it.
5. Toughies are best: this is obvious, but why would anyone want to bring home a tricky to grow, fussy plant? Nope. Limit yourself to plants that are proven performers, healthy individuals that have a reputation for being bullet-proof to care for. Again, a quick squizz at the tag, a bit of online research, and you’ll know if you’ve spotted a toughie. Or check out any of the plants already mentioned above because they are all super easy to grow and are, quite simply, great plants.
https://tesselaar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Tuxedo-Hydrangea-in-pot_sq.jpg600600Kristin Haythornehttps://tesselaar.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ATP-DD-logo-Normal-APRIL-2026.PNG-1-300x194.pngKristin Haythorne2020-08-04 05:36:062024-03-08 02:36:465 tips for picking the best plants
