Media release from University of Georgia/Floyd County Cooperative Extension:
The Penny Mac hydrangea is an award-winning reblooming mophead hydrangea that showcases large blue flower clusters from summer through fall. Named after Penny McHenry, founder of the American Hydrangea Society, it is prized for its beauty, vigor, and extended blooming season.
But do you know the rest of the story? The Penny Mac hydrangea is only part of the story. To learn more about the woman behind the plant, look to Dr. Gil Watson, who spent time with Penny McHenry and is uniquely qualified to share her legacy, passion, and influence on the hydrangea world.
I have had a lot of good things happen to me and I have known some of the most interesting people. When I was pastor of the Oak Grove Church in Decatur one of my members was Penny McHenry.
She was renowned in the field of blue hydrangeas. She raised nothing but blue hydrangeas. Here Penny Mac hydrangea up and produced a dwarf version which was developed by Michael Dirr of UGA. It is called “mini Penny”, I have one she gave me.
She was a little eccentric. She talked to her booms when walking through her garden. While strolling with me in her garden, she would pause take an especially large bloom in both hands and say,” you are the most beautiful bloom on this plant. “ She turned to me and whispered I have to be very careful not to show favoritism. They get jealous, you know.
She lived next door to the Shallowford Road Presbyterian Church. With a sense of making the world a better, more beautiful place she started rooting and propagating blue hydrangeas in the pine thicket next to the church. It was a space larger than a football field and was dense with loblolly pines.
She did that for thirty years. And when they bloomed, they were spectacular. Hundreds and hundreds of them all from knee high to chest high and every bush in full and glorious bloom. I said I sure hope they wanted hydrangeas. She said,” I don’t care. I never asked anybody. But they would sure have to be dumb not to” I loved her.
She got two blooming seasons each year. After they first bloomed, she cut the heads off and fertilized them with 10-10-10 fertilizer. I have never tried that with mine but this year I had no blooms in the Spring. That last freeze nipped every one of them.
I have lime greens and Annabells that were perfectly gorgeous. So, remembering what Penny had told me about fertilizing for a second bloom, I decided to fertilize mine and see what happened. Well, I don’t have a proliferation of blooms like she did, but I will at least have a few blooms and that far exceeded my earlier production. So as my first attempt at writing this column as a Master Gardener’s, I had to be sure how my hydrangeas reacted to being fertilized out of season. You might try it on your hydrangeas and have a resurrection, too! Until next time !
For more on the hydrangeas please visit: https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/C973/growing-bigleaf-hydrangea/
https://site.extension.uga.edu/fultonag/2025/05/the-comprehensive-guide-to-pruning-hydrangeas/
Dr. G. Gilman (“Gil”) Watson is a well-known United Methodist minister, speaker, historian, and horticulturist and resided in Rome, Georgia. He is best known for serving as Senior Pastor of Northside United Methodist Church in Atlanta from 1994 until his retirement in 2017, after nearly five decades in ministry. Dr. Gil is currently the teaching pastor at Rome First United Methodist Church and a Georgia Master Gardener Extension Volunteer for Floyd County.
Keith Mickler is the County Coordinator and agriculture agent for The University of Georgia/Floyd County Cooperative Extension.
Located at 12 East 4th Ave, Rome, GA 30161 (706) 295-6210. Office hours are Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The University of Georgia is an Equal Opportunity Institution.
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