Hydrangea Aspera Hot Chocolate

Hydrangea Aspera Hot Chocolate
Hot Chocolate is a new variety of hydrangea with dark foliage and blue-pink blooms. It is a distinctive lacecap variety with plenty of character and charm. Its foliage is a textured, dark-green brown when it emerges in spring with a deeper burgundy-brown underside that is darker than other varieties of hydrangea. In autumn the leaves turn from their rich chocolate colour to amber and yellow with orange highlights whilst retaining the brown underside.

Lacecap flowers develop after the leaves have emerged in huge heads measuring 30cm across, and offering violet blue centres which turn a pretty pink towards the outer florets. Hydrangea Aspera Hot Chocolate is a mix of all the hydrangea colours in one. It Is an unbeatable lacecap that flowers from early summer through to autumn.

This deciduous hydrangea will grow to three metres tall and spread over 1.5-2.5 metres in width over ten to twenty years if it’s left unpruned.

How Hardy is Hydrangea Aspera Hot Chocolate
Hydrangea Hot Chocolate is hardy through most of the UK if its feet are kept from waterlogged soil, but it may struggle in persistent freezing winds of the mid and north regions.

How To Use Hydrangea Aspera Hot Chocolate
Hydrangea Aspera Hot Chocolate is an ideal border filler because it has a compact neat habit and stunning flower display. It teams well with white paniculata hydrangeas and Hibiscus Purple Pillar for spring to autumn colour and structure.

Cottage gardens and wildlife gardens benefit from its textured appearance, and it also provides excellent cut flowers for formal decorations. Alternatively, place it in the middle of your lawn as a specimen plant or soften your patio with several Hydrangea Hot Chocolate plants grown in large well-watered containers.

How To Care For Hydrangea Aspera Hot Chocolate
Minimal care is needed, so this is an ideal flowering shrub for busy folk without much time to spare.

Hydrangea Aspera Hot Chocolate appreciates water in hot dry spells and prefers a sunny or partially shady position. It will grow in all soils and flowers across the summer months. Flowers remain a consistent colour in all pH soils.

You can prune Hydrangea Hot Chocolate after the flowers have finished, cutting out broken branches and crossed stems, but if you want to keep yours small, cut back all the branches by a third to a healthy bud. A thick layer of organic matter around the roots will feed your hydrangea and help produce the stunning colours of its chocolatey-foliage and pink to purple blooms.

If you want a border filler with plenty of style or can’t choose between the pink or blue hydrangea colours, then Hot Chocolate brings you the best of both worlds. It’s easy to grow, beautiful and hardy - you can’t go wrong with this garden star.