How to Collect and Plant Hydrangea Seed

How to Collect and Plant Hydrangea Seeds

There is something quite magical about hydrangeas in full bloom. Bursting with dramatic colorful flowers and bold green foliage, it’s no wonder they are commonly seen planted in yards and gardens.

While most home gardeners purchase a shrub from a plant nursery, or take cuttings from existing plants for propagation, you can also choose to grow them from seed.

Starting hydrangeas from seed may take a bit of time and forethought, but if you are up for the challenge, it can be a rewarding project.

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Our guide to growing hydrangeas covers how to cultivate these beauties in your landscape.

In this guide, we’ll discuss how to collect seeds for propagation.

Here’s what ahead:

Before you get started, it’s important to understand that unless you are collecting seed from a species plant, most will not grow true to the parent.

Over the years, plant breeders have created a large number of cultivars and hybrids, and these may not produce viable seed, and if even they do, the resulting plant may differ considerably from the parent.

Hydrangeas do not produce single blooms, but large inflorescences consisting of tiny, inconspicuous fertile flowers, and large, decorative infertile sepals. In the case of the large mophead cultivars, their flouncy round blooms may contain few, if any, fertile flowers.

Lacecap hydrangeas, with their visible fertile flowers surrounded by colorful sepals are typically a better option for collecting viable seed than mophead varieties, as are oakleaf or smooth types.

By contrast, rooting cuttings will produce clones of the original plant. If you prefer to propa