Lady in Red Lacecap Hydrangea

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Lady in Red’

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 5b-9b Find Your Zone

Shrub Type: Deciduous Flowering Shrub

Height at Maturity: 3-5′

Width at Maturity: 4-6′

Growth Habit / Form: Bushy, Dense, Globose/Round, Mounding

Flower Color: Pink & White turning to Deep Red

Flower Size: Clusters 6 to 8 inches in diameter

Flowering Period: Late Spring, Summer

Flower Type: Lacecap

Fragrant Flowers: No

Foliage Color: Dark Green

Fragrant Foliage: No

Berries: NA

Berry Color: NA

Sun Needs: Part Shade, Morning Sun, Filtered Sun (South) – Sun or Part Shade (North)

Water Needs: Average, Lower when established

Soil Type: Clay (amended), Loam, Sand (amended), Silt

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Well Drained Moist

Soil pH: 6.0 – 8.5 (Moderately Acid to Moderately Alkaline)

Maintenance / Care: Low

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Disease, Drought (when established in part shade), Heat, Humidity, Insect

Description

Lady in Red Hydrangea is a lacecap that produces some of the most beautiful and unique flowers we’ve seen on a Hydrangea. The pinkish center florets are surrounded by a ring of white single petaled flowers. The flowers will turn to deep burgundy or red as they mature. Stunningly beautiful! Lime can be applied to increase the alkalinity of the soil and may offer more brilliant red flower color. The leaves of Lady in Red Hydrangea are large and dark green in color, and turn to colorful red shades in fall. Throughout the growing season the leaf veins and stems are red. No wonder they named this gorgeous plant Lady in Red!

Landscape & Garden Uses

Growing naturally 3-5 feet tall and 4-6 feet wide in a rounded mound, Lady in Red Hydrangea can be grown in garden beds or containers. It is ideal for use as a specimen or accent in home foundation plantings, flowering shrub borders and perennial gardens. In larger landscape spaces it is especially dramatic in small to large groupings or in straight or staggered rows as a colorful hedge.

Spacing: 3-4′ for solid hedges; 8′ or more for space between plants

How To Measure Total Square Feet Of A Planting Area

How Many Plants Needed To Cover A Planting Area?

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 5a, where this Hydrangea is not winter hardy, you’ll be happy to know that it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and place back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Growing Preferences

Lady in Red Hydrangea is very easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil with average fertility and full sun to part shade in northern zones and part shade (morning sun with afternoon shade or filtered sun) in southern zones. For best flowering, we suggest 4 hours of direct sun light per day. As with so many other ornamental plants, a constantly soggy or wet soil is problematic. Flower color is your choice. Acidic soils will make blue flowers while a neutral to slightly alkaline soil will make pink flowers.

Note: Lady in Red is a Hydrangea macrophylla species that produces its flowers from buds that formed on “old wood” (during the previous year). This means that even though it is tempting to cut them back in the winter, when they are only bare sticks jutting out of the ground, don’t do it. The flower buds are already formed and hidden in those bare sticks, so don’t cut them off if you want flowers.

Get tips for proper pruning time and technique in our article titled How To Prune Various Types Of Hydrangea

Helpful Articles

Click on a link below to find helpful advice from our experts on how to plant and care for mophead Hydrangeas.

How To Plant Hydrangeas In The Ground & Pots

How To Prune Various Types Of Hydrangea

How To Fertilize And Water Hydrangeas

Plant Long & Prosper!

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Questions? Contact Us

Received plant quickly. No problems with the order at all. I put the plant in the ground upon arrival and it started blooming the NEW DAY!
I’m truly pleased with my purchase.———————————–We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG

I ordered a 3 gal. Lady in Red hydrangea, late in the season and received a beautiful plant, in perfect condition. I am very pleased. Also, your packing method is the best I’ve seen in 10 years of ordering plants. I’ll be back.———————————We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG

I ordered two of these red hydrangea. They were shipped to WA State and arrived in FIVE days in PERFECT condition, still moist without any droopy leaves. My only problem is that I asked twice for a call concerning planting information and never received a call back.——————————-Hi John, Thanks so much for taking the time to provide your review of the Lady In Red Hydrangea. We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! So sorry you did not get a return call, next time if you could send an email or ‘Ask a Question’ which is a feature on every plant page, we can get back to you faster. And for future reference, there are planting instructions on every plant page and in our Articles Section….:)
Beth Steele | Wilson Bros Gardens

It was impossible to find this plant until I found wilsonbrosgardens.com. The plant is beautiful and exactly what I wanted.——————————-WBG Reply: Hi Jessica, Thanks so much for taking the time to provide your review of the Lady In Red Hydrangea. We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come!
Beth Steele | Wilson Bros Gardens