A young 'Tardiva' in the landscape 'Tardiva' bloom
'Tardiva' 'Tardiva' pruned into a standard
Tardiva: A dependable hydrangea

Tardiva is a wonderfully dependable, airy paniculata. It can easily be trained into a tree form. The blooms look fresh on the shrub (or tree) for a long time. Even after they've faded, they look like white moths dancing around the tree. Some people are surprised that all the "buds" on the bloom do not open. This is natural to this plant. The blooms have only a few "open buds" (showy blossoms).

If you are interested in plants that provide "winter interest", Tardiva provides plenty of this.

I've heard that Tardiva gets it's name because it blooms so late in the season in many areas, thus it is "tardy". However, I haven't been able to confirm this, and it sounds a bit suspicious to me.

Tardiva is a very large plant. It can be kept much smaller by pruning it back in the spring or early summer. Like all paniculatas it can be pruned almost any time except right before it blooms.
