Black sheep

Eclipse is a dark-leafed Hydrangea macrophylla that made headlines when it was introduced at Cultivate and again when it received the People's Choice Award from Farwest Show attendees.

The plant was developed by David Roberts, director of plant breeding at Bailey Innovations, the in-house product development division of Bailey. The family-run multi-state nursery is known for brands like Endless Summer hydrangeas, First Editions trees and shrubs and Easy Elegance roses. David has led the breeding program at Bailey Innovations since it opened the Winterville, Georgia, location in 2018.

© Jim Fleming

Once a hydrangea makes it through all the necessary trials, the internal discussions start happening about which brand would be the best fit. There are three main criteria Bailey uses to determine whether a hydrangea joins the Endless Summer brand. No. 1 is remontancy. If the plant doesn’t rebloom well and doesn’t have that constant flower power all summer long, it isn’t fulfilling the brand promise of Endless Summer.

No. 2 is good performance in both cold and hot environments. Not many hydrangea can handle Minnesota winters that can reach negative 30 degrees and still flower the next year. But to earn the Endless Summer designation, the shrub has to be deemed hardy to Zone 4. Eclipse bloomed well in Minnesota last year, but not as consistently as Pop Star, the most recent Endless Summer introduction. That’s why Eclipse is being marketed as Zone 5-9.

The third factor they weigh is the plant’s adaptability to different production methods. Endless Summer is an international brand and as such, it requires high production values.

“The way I grow hydrangea in Georgia is totally different than how someone would grow hydrangea in Germany or the Netherlands,” David says. “So whatever we pick, we’ve got to be able to plug it into a wide range of production practices and have success with it.”

In the end, the Bailey brain trust decided that Eclipse’s dark foliage would make it somewhat of a black sheep in the Endless Summer family.

“Endless Summer is what you expect of a hydrangea,” says Ryan McEnaney, Bailey’s marketing and communications manager. “Eclipse being so different gives us the opportunity in First Editions to really stand out and have something unexpected. That really dark leaf with that cranberry bloom isn’t necessarily what you would expect in an Endless Summer hydrangea.”

David agrees that the First Editions brand makes better sense as a landing spot for Eclipse.

“Eclipse is the first Hydrangea macrophylla we’ve had in First Editions in over a decade,” he says. “We’ve got Light-O-Day which is also a non-traditional Hydrangea macrophylla. It’s got a nice variegated leaf and lacecap, but again, not what you typically think of when it comes to Hydrangea macrophylla.”

While the Endless Summer brand is the top seller for Bailey, some of the wilder breeding happening at Bailey Innovations will end up in the First Editions brand, which is home to more than 100 Bailey-developed trees and shrubs.

“Those might be a better fit for First Editions, where we’re looking for these off-the-wall, bold, audacious colors and combinations of traits that you don’t normally think of when you think of Hydrangea macrophylla. Eclipse definitely fits that category because it’s so far out of left field compared to what we normally do.”

Editor's note: Learn more about the developing, trialing and introduction of Eclipse here. 

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