Hydrangea paniculata 'Silver Dollar' (Panicle Hydrangea)
Compact White-Flowered Award-Winning Shrub
Transform your garden with Hydrangea paniculata 'Silver Dollar', the award-winning compact panicle hydrangea that delivers spectacular dense, rounded flower clusters throughout summer and autumn. This exceptional medium-sized shrub combines remarkable reliability with outstanding ornamental appeal, producing crowded white sterile florets that develop a soft pink flush as the season progresses, perfect for smaller gardens and contemporary landscapes.
Key Features
- Plant Type: Hardy deciduous shrub
- Height: 1.5m
- Spread: 1.5m wide
- Flowering Period: July to September
- Flower Size: Dense, rounded, broadly conical panicles
- Flower Colour: White becoming pink-flushed
- Hardiness: Hardy in the UK down to temperatures of -15 to -10 degrees Celcius (RHS hardiness rating H5)
- Growth Habit: Compact, upright, rounded
Award-Winning Garden Performance
Winner of the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 2008, 'Silver Dollar' has proven its exceptional garden worthiness through extensive trials. This prestigious recognition confirms its outstanding reliability, ornamental value, and adaptability to British growing conditions.
Perfect Compact Size for Modern Gardens
A low-growing deciduous shrub with a compact habit, reaching about 1.5m tall, making it ideal for smaller gardens and confined spaces. Silver Dollar only grows 4-5 feet tall and wide, making it great for smaller gardens and side yards, providing substantial impact without overwhelming neighbouring plants.
Distinctive Dense Flower Clusters
Produces very dense, rounded, broadly conical flower panicles with crowded white sterile florets, creating a uniquely full and substantial display. The densely packed flowers create an almost solid mass of white blooms that distinguishes this variety from other panicle hydrangeas.
Beautiful Colour Evolution
The white sterile florets gradually become pink-flushed as the season progresses, providing extended colour interest throughout the flowering period. This gentle transformation ensures continuous visual appeal from midsummer through to autumn.
Excellent Cut Flower Performance
Hydrangea makes great cut flowers and dries easily, giving you gorgeous fresh cuts in summer and rich floral displays in fall and winter. The dense flower clusters create stunning arrangements both fresh and dried, making this variety particularly valuable for indoor decoration.
Outstanding Wildlife Value
Butterflies and bees will add to the beauty all summer long, making this variety an excellent choice for wildlife-friendly gardens. The dense flower clusters provide abundant nectar sources throughout the extended flowering period.
Versatile Landscape Applications
Its upright nature makes it a star for your late summer garden interest, perfect for mixed borders, foundation plantings, and specimen use. The compact size and reliable performance make it ideal for contemporary garden designs where space is at a premium.
Soil and Position
Best grown in moist, well-drained, organically rich soil in full sun to partial shade. Be sure to plant them in moist ground, ensuring the roots are completely covered with soil. Adapts to various soil types provided adequate moisture is maintained.
Light Requirements
Prefers full sun to partial shade, ideally receiving at least 6 hours of sunlight daily for optimal blooming. Full sun positions produce the most abundant and dense flower clusters, whilst partial shade is well tolerated.
Soil Preferences
Thrives in moist, well-drained soil with good organic content. Unlike mophead hydrangeas, soil pH does not affect bloom colour, simplifying cultivation and making it suitable for most British garden soils.
Pruning Requirements
Expected to be 4 or 5 feet tall at maturity with annual pruning, making maintenance straightforward. Prune in late winter or early spring to maintain compact size and encourage abundant flowering on new growth.
Watering Requirements
Requires consistent moisture during the growing season, particularly important given the dense flower production. Water deeply but infrequently to encourage deep root development whilst maintaining adequate soil moisture.
Fertilising Programme
Apply a balanced slow-release fertiliser in spring and supplement with organic matter to support the production of dense flower clusters throughout the growing season.
Design Applications
- Small Garden Specialist: Ideal for small gardens, this compact variety provides maximum impact in limited space. The dense flower clusters create substantial visual presence without requiring extensive garden real estate.
- Foundation Plantings: Perfect for foundation plantings where its compact size and reliable performance provide structure and seasonal colour without outgrowing the space or obstructing views.
- Mixed Borders: Excellent for front-to-middle positions in mixed borders where its compact size and dense blooms provide consistent colour. The white flowers complement virtually any colour scheme.
- Contemporary Gardens: The compact, rounded habit and dense flower clusters make it perfect for contemporary garden designs where architectural plants with reliable performance are valued.
Seasonal Interest
Summer Spectacle: From July through September, the shrub becomes covered in dense, rounded clusters of white blooms, creating one of the most substantial displays available from a compact flowering shrub.
Autumn Transformation: As the season progresses, the white flowers develop soft pink tones, providing extended colour interest whilst maintaining their dense, rounded structure.
Winter Architecture: The compact framework provides attractive winter structure, particularly effective when flower heads are left for architectural interest.
Breeding Heritage
Bred by Pieter Zwijnenburg in 1990, this variety represents Dutch breeding excellence in creating compact, reliable hydrangeas perfect for modern gardens. The breeding focus on dense flower production and compact habit makes it ideal for contemporary landscapes.
Hardiness and Reliability
This hydrangea variety thrives across a wide range of conditions, making it exceptionally reliable in British growing conditions. After 3-4 years the Hydrangea will reach a width of 75cm and the height of 100cm, providing predictable growth patterns for garden planning.
Why Choose 'Silver Dollar'?
Hydrangea paniculata 'Silver Dollar' represents the perfect solution for gardeners seeking spectacular hydrangea performance in a compact, manageable package. The combination of award-winning reliability, dense white flower clusters, and perfect garden size creates a shrub that delivers maximum impact with minimal space requirements.
This exceptional variety offers outstanding value for gardeners with smaller spaces who want dramatic seasonal colour without overwhelming their garden. Whether used in foundation plantings, mixed borders, or as specimen plants, 'Silver Dollar' provides the perfect balance of ornamental magnificence, wildlife value, and garden reliability that makes it an essential addition to any garden seeking spectacular summer and autumn colour with year-round structural interest.
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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