We Built a Better Hydrangea: A Look at Our Seaside Serenade Series

We Built a Better Hydrangea: A Look at Our Seaside Serenade Series

This season we're introducing Seaside Serenade. A new series of six remarkable hydrangeas with truly notable improvements that make the classics you already love, even better.

We worked with breeders to create these new hydrangeas. Our goals were to help you increase the ways in which you can use and enjoy these desirable plants. (Both in the garden and in outdoor living spaces.) Plus, to materially improve structural elements such as stems and leaves to help them perform better. And, we’re not talking change for the sake of change, here. The newest crop of hydrangeas excel on these four fronts:

  • Compact Size: Maybe you’ve seen pictures of blooming hydrangea hedges and yearned for the look but have limited space. This new series fulfills that want with plants bred to a super-useful, compact, 4 ft. by 4ft. size. Filling foundations, dressing-up front yard picket fences or stone retailing walls. Adding a colorful low border in front of a taller garden bed, lining a walkway, or in a large pot. These new hydrangeas are only limited by your imagination.
  • Re-bloom: Most of the Seaside Serenade series (Bar Harbor is the exception) re-bloom reliably several times in a growing season. They kick it off with a big burst in early summer. This is followed by subsequent flushes of blooms throughout summer and into fall. Note that this is true even in warmer, more humid zones where hydrangeas can sometimes struggle with high-summer flowering.
  • Sturdier Stems: So, you want the same huge flowers found on larger plants. However, you also the usefulness of this new, more compact, smaller-sized plant. Done! The genius innovation here is measurably thicker stems that will not flop under the weight of large flower heads. The other benefit here is how these stronger, sturdier stems perform as a cut flower. They stand up straighter so you can make a more refined arrangement.
  • Thicker Leaves: Many hydrangeas do not perform well in heat, humidity, or windy conditions. The way to help them, is to improve the actual leaves. Leaves that are thicker and waxier can tolerate a bit more of these buzz kills. Each of the plants in the Seaside Serenade series have this improvement. Now, we’re not talking about gale force winds or beating down desert heat here, but you will notice the difference.

At Seattle's Northwest Flower and Garden Show in February, we set a table of these new hydrangeas in full bloom. They were instant celebrities because they solve common problems for hydrangea lovers. We think you will want to take a closer look when visiting your local independent garden center this spring. As with most new plants, quantities are limited. Some will be available through Shop Monrovia, our online shopping portal. If you want these hydrangeas, do not wait!

If you have questions, I would love to tell you more! Please use the comment section below.

Seaside Serenade® Cape Cod Hydrangea

Seaside Serenade® Cape Cod Hydrangea

Love a blue hydrangea but short on space? This one’s super-compact reaching only 4ft. tall and wide, but has the huge mophead flowers you love. And, it blooms in spring and again throughout summer. Zone: 4 – 9

Seaside Serenade® Fire Island Hydrangea

Seaside Serenade® Fire Island Hydrangea

Okay, this one’s just cool. Opens with a white center ringed in red, but as it ages the petals become more pink, fading to ivory. All at the same time on one plant. Or you can turn it blue just by adjusting soil pH. Zone: 4 – 9

Seaside Serenade® Cape May Hydrangea

SeCape May Hydrangeaaside Serenade® 

We’re obsessed with lacecap hydrangeas. Rather than a mop, these have florets arranged around the edges, creating a lacy appearance. This one’s lipstick-pink flowers open from purplish buds. So elegant. Zone: 4 – 9

Seaside Serenade® Bar Harbor Hydrangea

Seaside Serenade® Bar Harbor Hydrangea

Everyone loves Annabelle hydrangea’s huge blooms, but not the way her stems can flop under the weight of those flowers. This new, compact variety solves that with the same huge blooms, but on sturdier stems. Zone: 3 – 8

Seaside Serenade® Hamptons Hydrangea

Seaside Serenade® Hamptons Hydrangea

Another gorgeous, huge, ball-shaped mophead. What distinguishes this one are the designer details. For instance, the jagged little serrated edges on each floret, and the bright-green eye that dots the each center. Zone: 4 – 9.

Seaside Serenade® Outer Banks Hydrangea

Seaside Serenade® Outer Banks Hydrangea

We saw both pink and blue versions up close (depending on soil pH). We were taken by the palette of blooms and buds. Pink flowers with rosy-red and purple buds; blue flowers with hot-pink and purple buds. Zone: 4 – 9

Love it? Buy it!

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2017-03-24 03:29:00
Pamala Frazzoni
I have always loved your plants and found them to be hardy & healthy.
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Regina Mirella
I would like to order 2 each of Seaside series hydrangea: 2 Hampton, 2 Serenade and 2 Cape Cod. I tried to reset my password several times but links don't work. Wht is cost and how do I order. I am in Arroyo Grande, Ca 93420
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Eleanor Howard
I would like to have two of your Hydrangea's. I would like to have the Hampton Hydrangea. Also the Fire Island Hydrangea. They are beautiful.
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Jeannette GeBaide
Where can I purchase these in my area..zip 34428?
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Patricia
Looking for a type to plant in a large pot, since our ground is so rocky.
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Eddie Malley
I love the lime green flowers of Little Lime but the stems are not sturdy. Would the Bar Harbor be stronger. Does it rebloom at all? I cut and dry most of the blossoms. They are spectacular fillers in my Christmas tree.
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Lee Corn
Looking forward to purchasing the new Seaside Hydrangeas for our new home along the Columbia River. We get wind here and they sound very hearty.
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Betsy
Excited about the new hydrangea! I will be looking for them this Spring!
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Angela
A Hydrangea is the perfect flowering bush. Beautiful blooms in the summer and lovely dried booms for fall decorating.
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Judith Burns
What do you recommend for Capistrano Beach area, I think zone 10?
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Debi
I love the pink blooms on the Seaside Serenade Hampton's Hydrangea. My house is a lite gray and I think the pink color would stand out. Can't wait to try one out!
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Mittie Smith
Absolutely beautiful HYDRANGEAS
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Bert taylor
Hello, I am a Master Gardener in northern NJ. At our meeting in Feb of this year, we had a talk by a Monrovia representative. I am very interested in the new line or Seaside Serenade hydrangea for their compact growth. I went to my local garden supplier in Waldwick NJ, Rohslers, and they told me about Monrovia Online, where I can order plants and have them shipped to the garden shop. I can't find the full line of the Seaside Serenade hydrangeas only the Cape cod. Can an of the other 4 varieties in the series be purchased only and send to the plant store? I checked about 3 weeks ago and they said it was too early to get them in. Is it too late now to have them ordered and shipped? Interest is in Outer Banks, Cape Cod and Hamptons varieties.
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Linda Genrich
How do you get the Hydrangea to bloom? Mine haven't bloomed in a few years!!
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Wanita Haarman
I can't get the plants to flower Grow nice size and look healthy. Pretty large green leaves. want to know how to get to have flowers.
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Wilma
Beautiful!! I wish mine look like this! Got two in pots and one under the trees. How often must I water and feed the ones in pots?
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Ingrid Bennett
I planted Seaside Serenade in May here in zone 5 southeastern Vermont. There were already new blossoms on the plant when I purchased it. After they bloomed I cut them off but it is now early August and no sign of any more blossoms. Might they come in September or should I only expect only one flowering the first year? I had to pick off some of the first leaves because they curled up and looked crunchy. The new leaves look healthy.
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Sadia Elter
Where can I buy Seaside Serenade Fire Island Hydrangea in Vancouver British Columbia? The nearest nurseries to me are "Gardens in Garden" in Richmond and "Gardenworks - Mandeville".
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Diane
Do u have a printed catalogue?
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Gail
Do these bloom on old or new wood?
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8 Trends Influencing the Gardening World in 2018 | Grow Beautifully
[…] varieties of hydrangeas as fast as we can grow them. Breeders, responding to consumer needs, built a better hydrangea–re-blooming, right-sized for pots, with sturdier stems that dont flop under the weight of […]
reply Reply
Lorraine Ballato
Hi, Kate! I'm a garden writer/speaker with a focus on hydrangeas and a new book on the subject. Would love to get more info on the Seaside Collection. Thanks!
reply Reply
Sue
We just purchased a gardenia tree and planted in partial shade and late afternoon sun. Do you need to deadhead the flowers when they start to turn yellow and die? Does a new flower/bud bloom again from that same one?
reply Reply
Sue Weiland
We live in Bluffton, SC, just 6-7 miles from the ocean. Needless to say, we have heat and humidity in the Lowcountry. Is there a hydrangea that would be happy here? We do have an area that is shaded by old-growth trees.
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brian
So up until I saw this collection, the plan was to use Bloomstruck and Twist and Shout in our landscaping. We're getting close to installation and I'm torn between Bloomstruck and Seaside Serenade Cape Cod as well as Twist and Shout and Seaside Serenade Outer Banks. The size of the Seaside Serenade collection appears to be more definitive at 4'H,S, whereas BS and T&S have a wider range of sizes. Can you please clarify the differences of these two pairs of hydrangeas with regards to size, sun requirements, etc? Thanks in advance.
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Patricia
Do the Seaside Outer Banks, Cape Cod and Hamptons hydrangea bloom on old and new wood or just on old wood? Do they need protection in winter in order to bloom in the spring? I live in zone 5a. Thanks.
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Barbara
Does the Seaside Serenade Cape May have a fertile flower that attracts bees? Bellevue, Washington.
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Kathleen Halpert
Lovely cultivars! Question: I am a Master Gardener for Penn State, Lehigh/Northwestern Counties, and will be giving a community talk/workshop on hydrangeas in September. Do you have, by any chance, pamphlets or information that I could pass out as handouts? I would be most grateful if you do. Thank you, K. Halpert
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Growing Hydrangeas | Tonkadale
[…] but garden lime will ensure pink of you want to help them along. This group also includes the Seaside Serenade series from Monrovia. Big Leaf hydrangeas bloom on new and old wood and should produce blooms all […]
reply Reply
Valerie D'Antonio
Do the Seaside Series of Hydrangeas bloom on both old and new wood?
reply Reply

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