This dark shrub won’t “eclipse” other plants in your landscape, but it will for sure turn heads! New for gardens this spring – the Eclipse® Bigleaf Hydrangea brings high drama in bold color.

This introduction is the latest in the First Editions Shrubs & Trees family of plants, produced by Bailey Nurseries. Loma Vista Nursery is proud to grow this selection for Midwest independent garden centers, landscape contractors and wholesale distributors.

Eclipse® Bigleaf Hydrangea produces prolific blooms in a compact size. – Bailey Nurseries Photo

Eclipse® Bigleaf Hydrangea is the first true dark-leaf mophead hydrangea with deeply intense purple leaves that hold their color. A moderate grower, it has a mounded habit that reaches 3 to 5 feet tall and wide at maturity. For its uniqueness, this hydrangea shrub will stand out in the landscape whether it is planted in a garden bed, in a grouping beside a sidewalk, along a foundation or in decorative containers.

Vibrant companion perennials provide color and contrast to the shrub’s dark foliage and mophead blooms. – Bailey Nurseries Photo

Good companion plants provide vibrant color and textural contrast. Consider caramel heuchera and Georgia peach coral bells, St. John’s wort, gold and bronze coreopsis and Shasta daisy in your landscape design plans.

Foliage is so deeply dark purple that it appears black. – Bailey Nurseries Photo

Dark-as-night foliage in contrast with its mophead florals gives this unique shrub its name. So deeply purple it appears black, its leaves make a dramatic statement in the landscape, as a focal point and as a backdrop for smaller perennials. Plant this shrub mid-border to provide visual transition from lower plants in front to taller shrubs and mid-size trees in back.

Cranberry sepals with dark edges contrast with light, butter-yellow centers. – Bailey Nurseries Photos

Mophead blooms feature showy cranberry or amethyst-colored sepals depending on soil type. Maroon, button flowers dot butter-yellow centers, providing a “light” contrast to the shrub’s “dark” leaves. This creates a stunning visual as edges of the sepals darken as they mature. Sturdy stems rise above the shrub’s dark foliage to hold aloft 6-inch mophead blooms.

Mophead blooms are cranberry or amethyst in color depending on soil pH. – Bailey Nurseries Photo

Like other Hydrangea macrophylla, color depends on soil pH. Generally, Eclipse® Bigleaf Hydrangea produces cranberry mophead blooms when its roots are in alkaline soils. Shrubs grown in acidic soils produce amethyst-colored blooms.

This hydrangea is a rebloomer throughout the growing season, from May through September in the Midwest. Apply a slow release granular fertilizer in early spring when new growth appears and again in mid-summer to encourage re-bloom.

Prune Eclipse® Bigleaf Hydrangea with care. – Bailey Nurseries Photo

Eclipse® Bigleaf Hydrangea blooms on old and new wood, so pruning must be done with care. Do not prune this hydrangea in fall. Instead, prune stems that did not survive the winter in late spring. Deadhead in summer as blooms fade.

Site Eclipse® Bigleaf Hydrangea in loamy soil, in an area of the landscape that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Once established, water when soil is drying out, at the base of the shrub out to the dripline. This hydrangea performs best in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 9. It is winter hardy to Zone 5 and heat hardy to Zone 9.

Learn More About the Loma Vista Nursery Family and Our Landscape Plants

Along with perennials, trees and shrubs, Loma Vista Nursery grows a variety of hydrangea for Midwest independent garden centers, landscape contractors and wholesale distributors. We are currently taking professional trade orders for the spring 2024 growing season.

Click here for our container order form. Click here for our in-ground tree order form. Visit our plant catalog for more information about Loma Vista Nursery grown perennial plants, trees and shrubs – all ideal for Midwest landscapes.

Review our website to learn about our values and best-practices as a Midwest plant grower.

Our staff members are experts in the field who love helping people learn and understand more about plants. To get help with your orders and answers to plant-related questions, send an email to sales@lomavistanursery.com or call (785) 229-7200.