So far, I have not seen this mother species of the Smooth Hydrangea in the wild. I have seen some planted in landscapes and arboretums. This Wild Smooth Hydrangea has what is termed as a "lacecap" type of hydrangea flower cluster. Most of the flower cluster is composed of the tiny white fertile florets starting in the center of the cluster, and then there is a ring of the larger, showy infertile florets on the outside of the cluster. (What I really find in landscapes are: the old-fashioned 'Grandiflora' that is 4 to 6 feet high with rounded flower clusters about 6 to 8 inches across with all sterile florets, and the 'Annabelle' that is more compact about 3 to 4 feet high with larger, rounded, all sterile flower clusters about 12 inches across.) I prefer the more gentle beauty of the mother species which is useful to many pollinating insects as bees and butterflies, since it produces pollen, and also seed. In fact, I've seen this species just crawling with lots of happy bumblebees and small bees.

The species is native from southern New York down to northwest Florida over to eastern Oklahoma up through central Illinois to around Starved Rock State Park, in deep rich upland forests to sheltered mesic coves to floodplain forests to the banks of watercourses. It does not like dry soil or drought, so be prepared to give it some water in summer. It bears its flowers on new wood so that one can prune it down, even very low or to the ground, in early spring. It is one of those shrubs that is barely woody, almost a perennial. It does ground sucker some. Only native plant nurseries sell this straight species.

A number of new cultivars have been developed that have the "lacecap" type of flower clusters that are larger and showier than the mother species. Some more cultivars of the round "hortensia" flower cluster also have been developed along with a few pink flowered hortensia cultivars also. The hortensia (mophead) flower clusters normally have few or none of the tiny fertile florets that are loved by pollinating insects. (There is a possibility that my photos taken in Phoenixville, PA, may be the cultivar of 'White Dome' in that the flower clusters are a little more domed and less flat than most.)

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