Climbing Hydrangea Vine (Growing Tips)

My garden is a result of years of trial and error to see what works. I don’t remember where I first came across my climbing hydrangea vine, but it’s one of my favorite plants.

In fact, I now have three of them. It’s been really easy to grow and manage. It also provides vertical interest, which is good in any garden but especially in smaller-sized areas.

How to grow and care for a climbing hydrangea vine

The first hydrangea vine I planted was in my front yard next to my porch. I don’t remember exactly how long it’s been since planting but I’d guess about 7 years now.

Like most hydrangeas, the climbing vines prefer partial sun to shade. Indirect sun for only a few hours a day seems to be the key to success with these.

The location of the climbing hydrangea vine in my front yard makes it difficult to access with the hose so I rarely even water that one anymore. However, when it was newly planted I did make sure to water it if we hadn’t gotten any rain. I’ve read they prefer well-drained soil, so over-saturation probably would not be good.

They are very low-maintenance plants!

Are climbing hydrangeas evergreen?

Oh, how I wish my climbing hydrangeas were evergreen but sadly they are not. In the winter months, you will see the bare root of the plant. Once Spring arrives, the leaves begin sprouting early on in the season.

I’ve recently done a little more research on these and apparently, there are a couple of evergreen climbing hydrangeas varieties. The two evergreen types of climbing hydrangea are called Hydrangea seemannii and Hydrangea serratifolia.

How To Get A Climbing Hydrangea To Bloom

As with most hydrangeas, I don’t think there is a way to force blooms. What I will say about the hydrangea vines is that the flowers appear in the Spring but only last a short time. About two weeks. You can see in the photo above that they don’t look like typical hydrangea flowers. They are more ornamental (for lack of a better word).

If you are specifically looking for a flowering vine, I would say this is not the one you want. I love this vine for the greenery it adds and for the ease of care.

Why I Love Climbing Hydrangea Vines

As I mentioned, climbing hydrangea vines are very low maintenance and easy to care for.

Another huge advantage to these is that they don’t take over and start popping up out of the ground everywhere as some other vines do. They will grab onto the wall where you grow them providing interest.

The greenery is beautiful as a garden accent and is also great for privacy. I especially love the climbing hydrangea growing up on the trellis on my porch. Here is a second one I planted next to my shed.

Next to the shed, I also have a hummingbird vine planted right along with the hydrangea vine. The hummingbird vine has since started to take over in an invasive way. There are sprouts popping up all throughout my lawn now. I’ve never had that issue with the hydrangeas.

I’m not exactly sure which variety of hydrangea mine is, but here is a list of seven types of hydrangea varieties. I believe I may have ordered mine all on Etsy. I just planted a third one in my yard and that’s where I found it. It’s not a plant I’ve ever come across at any local garden centers.

Most Etsy sellers I’ve come across are selling the seeds for hydrangea vines. I always hold out to find one selling an established plant. There aren’t many on Etsy either, but I found my most recent plant here. That one came in a four-inch pot. I’m hoping that will fill in another bare spot on the back of my house.

The climbing hydrangea vine is the only vine I’ve ever planted that hasn’t been invasive. Between that and their low level of needed care, I’d highly recommend them!

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