Have you ever thought about fan pruning a hydrangea?

Fan pruned Hydrangea

Some years ago, I worked for a few months at a company that had a number of small buildings and between the walls of the buildings and the paths, they had some narrow beds.  There I first saw a fan pruned hydrangea.  I was fascinated by it.  It was winter / spring when I was there and so I never saw the plant in flower, but I felt that the structure of the plant gave it interest throughout the year.

When I came to plant my garden, I realised that we had created exactly the same situation in the pond garden and decided that I wanted my own fan pruned hydrangea.  The garden designer thought I was absolutely mad as he had never seen this done.  I didn’t want a big and blousy mop headed plant as that would have been out of place in the pond garden.  Instead I went for a pale lilac lacecap called Silver Slipper which has fitted into the location beautifully.

So, a few years on and I now have my own version of a fan pruned hydrangea.  What do you think of it?