Firefly

Plant Patent #11,038. Whether your garden needs some vertical color and fragrance, groundcover beauty, or even a neatly-trimmed flowering shrub, 'Firefly' can do the trick! This rare variegated form of Climbing Hydrangea is easy to grow, very dependable, and just about the most beautiful sight in the spring garden.

The leaves are heart-shaped and glossy green, emerging with a bright yellow outline in spring. By late spring and into summer, they are joined by large "lacecap" blooms of creamy-white. These consist of an inner circle of tiny flowers surrounded by an outer ring of much larger, open florets. Fragrant and long-lasting, they are superb for cutting, and will perfume the entire garden.

'Firefly' is usually grown as a climbing vine, reaching 25 feet long and about 3 to 4 feet wide. Its most dramatic presence is upward along tree trunks and into overhanging branches, but it also blankets unsightly fences and other structures, or scrambles across the ground. It can even be grown as a shrub about 3 to 4 feet tall and wide, provided you keep it pruned. Such versatility!

This vine is deciduous, but it's hard to mourn the passing of its leaves in winter, for this season reveals its fascinating peeling cinnamon-brown bark. It takes a season or two to become established in your garden, and then sets to work, adding about 2 feet of growth every year. No pruning is necessary unless you like; it thrives in any well-drained soil receiving full sun (farther north) to partial shade (farther south). Discovered by Dan Benarcik in New England, it is one of the most exciting new plants to grace the garden. Enjoy! Zones 4-7.

- Park Seed (link here)