Puffer Fish Hydrangea: a Fun New Take on a Favorite Shrub
If you like Bobo you’ll love Puffer Fish.
With its medium size and uniquely white-to-pale-green summer flowers, Puffer Fish panicle hydrangea is well suited to mixed borders, foundation plantings and patio edges, where you can enjoy its pale blooms glowing in the soft morning or evening light. Plus, this easy-to-grow hydrangea offers a fun twist after its flower heads fully mature.
Common name: Puffer Fish panicle hydrangea
Botanical name: Hydrangea paniculata ‘NCHP1’
Exposure: Full to part sun
Flowers: In summer, Puffer Fish hydrangea is smothered in pure-white star-shaped flowers arranged in large, fluffy cones, or panicles. Its strong stems are able to hold the flowers upright. With time, the white flowers shift to light lime green. (Puffer Fish does not take on the pink tones that many other panicle hydrangeas do.) As a fun twist, a fresh sprig of white flowers emerges from the top of the mature panicle.
Foliage: Medium green; large and coarse in visual texture.
Habit: A panicle hydrangea, Puffer Fish grows as a woody, deciduous shrub reaching three to five feet tall and wide.
Origin: Hydrangea paniculata is native to Eastern Asia. Puffer Fish ('NCHP1') is a cultivar bred by Dr. Tom Ranney at North Carolina State University. It was introduced to the garden market by Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs in 2023.
How to grow it: Plant Puffer Fish hydrangea in full to part sun. This shrub performs best with regular, moderate moisture; water it deeply during dry spells. Panicle hydrangeas produce their flower buds during the growing season, on new growth. If pruning is necessary, do so in late winter or early spring, before growth begins. USDA Zones 3–8.
Images courtesy of Proven Winners
