Have all your neighbors talking with the hydrangea of the year, the Limelight Prime

Norman Winter
·3 min read

It wasn’t until the summer of 2019 that I realized I lived in a Hydrangea paniculata forest. If you have read my columns then you know that The Garden Guy can exaggerate a little. So, to be more succinct, my neighbors all down both sides of the street have the most glorious monster hydrangeas.

I, on the other hand, have the more refined Limelight Prime, the 2023 Hydrangea of the Year as so designated by Proven Winners.

When I planted it in 2020 to join the neighborhood "Hydrangea Society," I had no idea it would be the hydrangea of the year three years later. In fact, I was part of the testing process as it wasn’t released until 2021. To me the differences over Limelight the all-time Grand Daddy of hydrangeas are huge. Well maybe the big truth here is, they are NOT huge.

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Limelight Prime is the Hydrangea of the Year for Proven Winners. It is smaller in stature than the first Limelight and is easy to fit in the landscape. Here it is starting to show color last July at The Garden Guy’s house in Georgia.
Limelight Prime is the Hydrangea of the Year for Proven Winners. It is smaller in stature than the first Limelight and is easy to fit in the landscape. Here it is starting to show color last July at The Garden Guy’s house in Georgia.

You see my neighbor’s wonderful hydrangeas push eight feet tall maybe more and some of their clusters actually block the view of traffic. Others are so large they even screen the front of the house. So, a smaller version like Limelight Prime that gets only four to six feet tall is just what the doctor ordered.

They are easier to work into small yards or even smaller beds like I am doing. They also boast sturdier stems able to hold those huge blooms upright. It has a better foliage cover and starts blooming earlier.

I have had great fun developing this bed and making changes over the last three years. Whether you grow the original Limelight or Limelight Prime, I hope you are giving them companions in the landscape. I have always believed that if you saw these giant white blooms in the islands, say Martinique or St. Thomas, you would think these were the most beautiful tropical flowers you had ever seen. This points out the tropical style garden can be a bit of an attitude or illusion.

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Since I am a tropical nut, I have combined my three Limelight Prime hydrangeas with exotic foliage like the Red Abyssinian banana, Ensete maurellii, and two giant Alocasia Portora elephant ears that reached 10-feet tall last season. I can truthfully say the Limelight Prime blooms looked like the most gorgeous tropical flowers on my street.

The Limelight Prime hydrangea has done its part in bringing in several species of butterflies including this Question Mark.
The Limelight Prime hydrangea has done its part in bringing in several species of butterflies including this Question Mark.

If you have read my columns in the past, you know that butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators stoke a flaming passion in The Garden Guy as well. So, the quest for the third growing season was to transform this bed into a full partnership of hydrangeas, tropical foliage, and the best of pollinator plants.

I added dwarf Pugster and the taller Miss Molly butterfly bushes. Then toward the front of the border, I planted Truffula Pink gomphrena, Sunstar Red pentas, Rockin Playin the Blue salvias, Meant to Bee agastaches and Color Coded coneflowers.  The best surprise of all is that not only are there butterflies and hummingbirds on the butterfly bushes and perennials but I have also photographed the Spicebush swallowtail, Great Purple hairstreak and the exquisite Question Mark on the Limelight Prime hydrangea.

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This one bed that started as an end of driveway eyesore has now become my favorite hangout place. The impetus for all of this fun came about from the opportunity to test three Limelight Prime hydrangeas, then creating their combinations.

Since this is the Proven Winners hydrangea of the Year for 2023 the supply should be up for you to be able to purchase. They are recommended for zones 3-8, which is a huge geographic area.  In my three years, I have had blooms from June through November and two of the years I had better rose coloration than I ever dreamed possible in the South.

This corner of the bed was showing out in September with Limelight Prime hydrangea, Color Coded One in a Melon coneflower, Sunstar Red Pentas, Truffula Pink gomphrena and Rockin Playin the Blues salvia.
This corner of the bed was showing out in September with Limelight Prime hydrangea, Color Coded One in a Melon coneflower, Sunstar Red Pentas, Truffula Pink gomphrena and Rockin Playin the Blues salvia.

Norman Winter is a horticulturist. He is a former director of the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. Follow him on Facebook at Norman Winter “The Garden Guy.” See more columns by Norman at SavannahNow.com/lifestyle/home-garden/.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Gardening: Try the Limelight Prime hydrangea for your home garden