• Home
  • Blog Posts
  • About Me

My names not Annabelle! It’s Haas Halo Hydrangea!

January 19, 2018 By Jim 23 Comments

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubscribe

It has been a while since I wrote about a plant, the last one was the North Star Sour Cherry. That was a plant I had at my previous house and was quite familiar with. It is also a pretty old cultivar, certainly not the latest and greatest. Today, I want to talk to you about a new cultivar of an old friend, the Haas Halo hydrangea.

Most people know the Illinois native Smooth Hydrangea because of the softball sized mophead white flowers of it’s most widely planted cultivar, the Annabelle Hyrangea (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’).

While these are attractive plants from a landscaping sense, the flowers are sterile and not much use for pollinators like butterflies or bees.

annabelle hydrangea is no Haas Halo Hydrangea
Annabelle Hydrangea. Photo by Fred Ortlip licensed under Attribution License

You see those white mophead flowers are all made up of sterile flower parts. I have wondered, why can’t we find the good old species of Smooth Hydrangea. You know the one with the sterile AND less gaudy fertile flowers that contain pollen. Then of course, I remember that the flower is pretty unspectacular compared to Annabelle.

Those plants don’t look nearly as ornamental as an Annabelle, but they do fit into natural landscape design as a supporting player and have more ecological benefit to wildlife. That is they would if you could find a nursery that sold them.

Why couldn’t we have an improved Smooth Hydrangea WITH fertile flower parts that support pollinators?

It turns out, now we can!

Haas Halo Hydrangea

(Hydrangea Arborescens ‘HAAS’ HALO’ PP24783)

Introducing Haas Halo Hydrangea, finally an attractive hydrangea that no longer just looks pretty but pull’s it’s own ecological weight. This is THE shrub I am most excited to get out and start using next year!

Haas Halo Hydrangea (HYDRANGEA ARBORESCENS 'HAAS' HALO' PP24783)
Haas Halo Hydrangea grouping. Photo provided by Plants Nouveau, LLC.

Here is the reason

Here is a close up of an Annabelle Hydrangea flower.

Annabelle Hydrangea flower is no Haas Halo Hydangea
The flower of an Annabelle Hydrangea. Photo by Elsa Spezio licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike License

By contrast, here is a close up of a Haas Halo Hydrangea flower:

Haas_Halo_Hydrangea
Those little, not so flashy flower parts in the middle make all the difference! Photo provided by Plants Nouveau, LLC.

So besides looks, what’s the difference?

Haas_Halo_Hydrangea
Haas Halo Hydrangea flower’s difference makes all the difference. Photo provided by Plants Nouveau, LLC.

Those fertile flowers offer nectar and pollen to a wide range of visiting pollinators. These visitors include bumblebees, little carpenter bees, Halictid bees, masked bees, among others native bees that need all the help we can give them.

The foliage of Wild Hydrangea is also nibbled on a bit by the caterpillar of the Hydrangea Sphinx moth which turn into this kind of pretty moth (and tasty piece of bird food).

Besides it’s vastly superior ecological benefits, Haas Halo Hydrangea also have the advantage of being drought tolerant, which for a Smooth Hydrangea is a great benefit as they can be a bit thirsty.

Haas Halo Hydrangea Growing Conditions

  • Hardiness Zones: 3-9
  • Bloom Time: June to October
  • Size: 3 -5’ tall by 3 – 5’ wide
  • Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade.
  • Soil Moisture: Moist to dry.
  • Diseases: None known.

Haas Halo hydrangea contributes to ecological landscape plantings, but can also be used in foundation plantings, cutting gardens, mixed borders, and of course, native plant gardens.

Haas Halo Hydrangea (HYDRANGEA ARBORESCENS 'HAAS' HALO' PP24783) as_Accent_Plant
Haas Halo Hydrangea can be used in many landscape settings, including groupings or as an accent plant as shown here. Photos provided by Plants Nouveau, LLC.

Of course, you won’t find many landscapers using this plant. Most are not concerned about building ecological plantings that support biodiversity AND look great. Well at least 95% of them.

They are more concerned with using the old tried and true proven plants that they know they won’t have to replace. That’s why you still see Bradford Pears, Burning bush, and Daylily still planted everywhere.

Stay tuned to my next post, where I will share a design for an ecological landscape that uses this plant (and a lot of other ones).

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubscribe

Filed Under: Plant recommendations, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Comments

  1. Roberta Young says

    October 15, 2022 at 8:44 am

    It’s mid-October 2022. I would LOVE to buy this plant for a fall planting but can’t find any place – local nursery or online – that sells it. Does anyone know where I can purchase this?

    Reply
  2. Jolene Bailey says

    June 22, 2022 at 11:32 am

    I love this Hydrangea. I purchased 2 last year locally and this year they are growing so fast and have a lot of buds on them. The flowers last a very long time and they are beautiful. I couldn’t be happier.

    Reply
  3. Kerry Dumbaugh says

    July 26, 2020 at 6:51 am

    I have a woodland shade garden in western Massachusetts where parts get 2-3 hours of morning sun a day. Will Haas Halo work in it?

    Reply
    • Jim says

      August 1, 2020 at 1:40 pm

      It might. I would expect it to grow but it might not flower as much.

      Reply
  4. Cathy Raupp says

    June 12, 2019 at 9:54 am

    I have this and it is spectacular. I enjoyed reading your comments.

    Reply
    • ann Fraley says

      May 20, 2020 at 6:53 pm

      What part of the country are you in? I am in zone 9 and I wonder just how truthful the “zone 3 to 9” category is.

      Reply
      • Jim says

        May 23, 2020 at 8:32 am

        Zone 5.I would not trust it in zone 9.

        Reply
  5. Nancy Cusumano says

    April 28, 2019 at 6:31 am

    I forgot to cut back my Haas Halo earlier in spring and now it is startling to leaf out. Is it too late to do it this year?
    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Jim says

      April 30, 2019 at 5:55 am

      I would leave it, but you could reduce it a little bit.

      Reply
  6. LAUREL DELANEY says

    September 10, 2018 at 9:51 am

    Where can I buy these plants? I live in Aurora, IL. Do you sell these in McHenry at Anderson Natural Landscapes?

    Reply
    • Jim says

      September 10, 2018 at 9:25 pm

      No. I don’t sell or plant them yet as I have not found a supplier. I heard Northwind Perennial Farm in WI had them this summer. I would call around and ask for them as most places stock is low. I always liked the garden center at Schaefer Greenhouses in Montgomery, I would give them a try.

      Reply
  7. Jim Lambert says

    August 5, 2018 at 7:23 pm

    Hi—I bought 2 of these 2 yrs. ago and planted them in my mixed border—I LOVE ’em! Took 2 yrs. for them to really get size and bloom, but they’re a knockout in a mixed border, and would look good as a foundation specimen, as well.

    Reply
    • Jim says

      August 5, 2018 at 7:30 pm

      Nice. Thanks for the feedback..

      Reply
  8. Nancy Cusumano says

    July 18, 2018 at 5:37 pm

    Hi Jim,

    I believe I have a Haas Halo that I bought from ColdWaterPond Nursery in Phelps, NY. It is mislabed as Annabelle, and I’ve always wondered why the flowers are so less showy. Now I know why and can appreciate them more. My question for you is – hardly any of the petals on mine open. They are all the small un-opened flowers that your white arrow points to, above. Is there a way to get more of those to open? I can send a photo if that helps? I was going to pull it out this fall and get an Annabelle, but now maybe I will not. Thanks for writing this and making me appreciate what I have.

    Reply
    • Jim says

      July 20, 2018 at 11:46 am

      It is probably the straight species. The blooms may improve if it gets more sun, but don’t expect is to compete with an Annabelle or Haas Halo.

      Reply
  9. Patricia B Kolber says

    June 11, 2018 at 5:42 pm

    I just found Haas Halo at Northwind Nursery north of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

    Reply
  10. Richard Mertens says

    May 16, 2018 at 9:42 am

    What about H. arborescens “White Dome”? I can’t find Haas Halo in my area (Chicago), but one nursery has White Dome. The Missouri Botanical Garden suggests that it produces fertile flowers:

    http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=c699

    Reply
  11. Emmett says

    February 13, 2018 at 6:54 am

    Do ya cut it back in spring like Annabelle?

    Reply
    • Jim says

      February 15, 2018 at 4:30 pm

      Yes, prune it the same as Annabelle.

      Reply
      • Emmett says

        February 15, 2018 at 5:13 pm

        Cause I haven’t really found that the straight species arborescens respond to cutting back hard as well as the Annabelle does

        Reply
        • Jim says

          February 15, 2018 at 8:02 pm

          I would not cut any of them back real hard.

          Yes, you can get away with cutting Annabelle back almost to the ground but it will weaken the shrub. I would prefer light pruning annually.

          Reply
          • Karissa Mizner says

            May 25, 2019 at 7:23 pm

            Would anyone know why my mop head blooms have changed to the halos? Over the past 3 years, each year a new shrub has blooming with the halo instead. Although they are beautiful, I miss my mop head blooms! Help me!

  12. Betty Maupin says

    January 21, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    Very curious about this plant. Thanks for the post.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website or its third-party tools use cookies, for more information on data we may collect about you see our Privacy policy.
I use affiliate links and may earn a commission if you purchase through my links. To learn more, check this out.
© 2018 Jim Anderson