Limelight Hydrangea Grown From Cutting - 4 Years Later - October 2026

Four years ago - in September 2022, I did my first (ever) cutting of an existing Limelight Hydrangea and attempted to grow a new shrub in a nursery container.

In mid-September 2022, I cut off a green tip, trimmed back the leaves and stuck it in some compost.  

A couple weeks later, it grew some new leaves.  

Back then, I was trying to grow a number of things from cuttings and seeds (like Oak trees).  I would overwinter them by digging them into the ground and mulching them in.  Then, in Spring, I dug out the nursery pots and nurtured them along the season.

A year later - in October 2023 - the Limelight cutting was growing upright.  It had two branches and was probably 12" tall.  It was also root-bound in the pint-sized nursery pot, so I up-potted it to a one-gallon nursery pot.  

Two years in (October 2024), the cutting (now in that one-gallon nursery pot) flowered for the first time.  But, the plant was also probably not in enough soil, because it kept drying out.  I pruned it back a little bit to help it survive.  

At some point (I don't seem to have posted about it), I planted it next to the two existing Limelight Hydrangeas along the side of the front porch.

And now, four years after starting this shrub from a cutting, it is now...a real shrub.

When I posted about the new Ajuga Burgundy Glow plugs that I planted last week, I included a mention of the shrub.  But, here, below is a photo of it - with blooms on the tips of the stems:

The success of this makes me want to get back into cuttings.  Something for my 2027 to-do list, right? 

Looking at the [2027 to-do list] tag, I already have the beginnings of a task list:

• Do more cuttings like this Limelight Hydrangea
• Buy more Talavera Moondust Coleus for the garden
• Go with dwarf/compact coleus for the Island bed in front
• Add a couple more Viburnum to the back of the yard
• Make a bigger Wasserspiel (DIY Alpine Trough)