I have an Annabelle that was a sucker from an older shrub and I just added it on the East side of a mature Maple Tree under the drip line. So it barely gets any sun. I planted it last year and this is it's first year established and it's actually blooming there, which I really didn't expect. So I'm conviced this shrub can handle a lot of shade. And the blooms are more upright then my Annabelle in more sun. Of course it is younger and has fewer blooms.

I also have Endless Summer, All Summer's Beauty and a Mme Emille Mouliere that has amazing huge flowers of white with a blue dot in the center of each small flower. Very pretty flowers but lot of good it's doing on this wilting shrub every day. I'm going to definitely move it to a little more shade and just keep watering.

I have lots of places I can add that Bobo hydrangea.

I know "Annabelle" has wonderful flowers but I just couldn't abide the inevitable floppiness and I wasn't prepared to hoop it or prop it up in anyway. I had two of them but I removed them a couple of year back.

'Quickfire' Hydrangea is a lacecap that starts white and then turns pink.

Then mine is "Quickfire". I really like this hydrangea. It keeps its blooms for so very long and with the colour change of the blooms there is eye interest from spring to fall.

Then mine is "Quickfire". I really like this hydrangea. It keeps its blooms for so very long and with the colour change of the blooms there is eye interest from spring to fall.
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I like it too. Now take a Quickfire that turns pink and then in the fall turns red. That would be something. That's Fire and Ice.

That's my rationale and I'm sticking to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea Fire and Ice

I have lots of places I can add that Bobo hydrangea.

I bet!

And given that it blooms on new wood makes it very forgiving with respect to pruning. So what's not to love?

Now I'm really going to have to find this shrub. Not only is it a paniculata that is hardy to zone 3 and will take more sun, but it blooms on new wood so you're pruning is more straightforward and it escapes frost damage. And the blooms stay upright too? Sounds like it has solved many of the problems with some other hydrangeas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Monrovia's Bobo Hydrangea

My 3 H.'white diamonds' are loaded with buds and they all look very healthy.
Several years ago I replaced all of my 'annabelles' and 'white moths'(beautiful,but way to large for the wall garden)
with 'little lambs'. I found an interesting way of pruning some heavy flowers on 'little lamb' so that the large flowers no longer sag on the ground.

White Moth is a favorite of mine - but it does indeed get very big! It's what's in the background with the veronicastrum in this picture:
{{gwi:246625}}

franeli - how do you prune the 'Little Lamb'?

I like Hydrangea 'Quickfire' for its early bloom, (a month earlier than others) and the changing colors into autumn.

That is a wonderful speciment boday! I will show you mine shorty and you will see it is "scrunched" up against a fence on one side and too many perennials on the other but with selective pruning I just barely keep it in check. And I do want to keep it where it is.

Here is my QF as of today.

(Maybe there are fewer blooms on mine due to poor pruning? Does it bloom on old and new growth?)

I had never heard of "White Moth".

Be sure to post pictures 'fran' when "White Diamond" open up.

I'm no Hydrangea expert but would suggest that your 'Quickfire' probably gets less sun rather than pruning as the cause. But agreed, looks very good where it's at. Needs must.

Also, I go the rose route in watering the hydrangeas. I give each shrub a five gallon pail of water on a weekly basis, during the summer to ensure the deep roots get with the program.

I'm a big proponent of deep watering. You can spray for half an hour and might get the top two inches of the soil wet.

So how do you water with a pail? Do you pour it by hand without a sprinkler head?

So how do you water with a pail? Do you pour it by hand without a sprinkler head?
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Yep. Old tomato technique. Surface watering creates more problems for roots and for the plant in general. The roots go shallow, fry in the hot earth layer, etc. Just a gentle stream from the pail. Two smaller pails do the same. I let the pails stand overnight to remove chlorine and warm up.

You can hear the plants giggling for the tickles.

Okay, I lied about the last part.

lol...ok boday, thanks for the tip.

So how do you water with a pail? Do you pour it by hand without a sprinkler head?
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Yep. Old tomato technique. Surface watering creates more problems for roots and for the plant in general. The roots go shallow, fry in the hot earth layer, etc. Just a gentle stream from the pail. Two smaller pails do the same. I let the pails stand overnight to remove chlorine and warm up.

You can hear the plants giggling for the tickles.

Okay, I lied about the last part.

Blooms of H. 'white diamonds' are just starting to open

Beautiful picture 'fran'. How large a plant is "White Diamonds"? Do you have it in full sun?

Rouge, thanks for starting this thread. I just picked one up today. PM2, do you want me to get one for you? Good size at a local nursery near me for 12.95. I was really surprised at the low price.

Woody, I had already figured out where I was going to put this but have been rethinking your idea about replacing 'David' phlox. That is what I'm going to do. Glad you thought of it!!

Instead of standing there slowly pouring you can punch a small hole in the bottom of the pail, almost as small as you can, they set the pail beside the plant and let gravity work for you. I use 1 gal milk jugs this way, 1 gal takes about an hour or so with a really small hole. It's also a great way to fertilize individual plants with water soluble.

Those plants all look great and make me want to go buy more!!!

Franeli, very pretty hydrangea. DidnâÂÂt know they had a âÂÂwhiteâ diamond, I have the pink.

Thyme2dig, you are so nice to think of me! ThatâÂÂs a great price too. Now if you only lived down the streetâ¦.lol. Congratulations on finding one so quickly, and already deciding where it is going to go!

Boday, I used your tip yesterday. One of our hydrangeas was wilting in the sun as usual but when the sun went down it was still wilted, so we used the 5 gallon pail water trick and it is looking much better. I had just had the sprinkler there the day before, so you are right, the sprinkler is just not getting deep enough.

Another way to water deeply is to put the garden hose - without the sprinkler attached - in an area that needs watering and turn it on just enough to run water but not with enough force to wash away soil. Let it run like that until the area is flooded and then turn it off or move it to the next area that needs water. Of course, that method doesn't work on a slope where the water would run off, but otherwise it works great to give the plants a deep soaking.

I'm from the old school - farmer's son and all that. I don't like the chlorine in the water, even though I'm not sure that it's harmful. I normally fill up a number of buckets and let them stand, so it's also warm water. Then depending on the weather, the roses and the hydrangeas get a drink. It's easier and less time consuming to just tip the bucket and gently water a specific area. I'm firmly convinced that this produces better results.

Woody, that is just what I did yesterday after realizing that carrying a full 5 gallon bucket across the yard has it's limits. :-) That will work for the entire yard, since I have a level lot. I think I'm going to be doing that a lot more often, since I discovered that the beds I just had the sprinkler on for an hour and a half at a time were dry two days later.

I worry about the chlorine in the water too. I bought a filter for the hose in the spring and went to use it and it needs a pressure regulator that I need to get first.

I'm going to start a new thread, since this is getting off topic and I had a few questions on soaker hoses.

Thanks

I worry about the chlorine in the water too.

Another reason for the use of rain barrels 'prairie' ;).

boday, here is a picture of my QF today. The blooms are starting to turn just a little bit pink.

Rouge,

After seeing your pictures, I have been trying to find hydrangea Bobo locally. Unfortunately no luck so I placed an order online for 3. They will be coming in small so I need to be patient.

Comparing to your Hydrangea Quick Fire, do Bobos bloom earlier or later?

Thanks
Vivian

Good for you 'vivian'. Let us know how these mail order "Bobo" look on arrival.

My "Bobos" began to flower in early July as I recall...similar to QF?

Rouge, Thanks. I will keep track of the progress once they are here. Good to hear that Bobo starts to bloom early. I have several limelights and they typically bloom later than QF (I do not have QF). So Bobo can help with filling the gaps by blooming a littler earlier.
Vivian

Yep, mine are turning pink as well. The Limelight are just now into the bud stage.

The Limelight are just now into the bud stage

My "Little Lime" are just a bit beyond that but still way behind "Bobo" and QF.

It would be (much) further ahead if it got more sun and if the deer had left it alone earlier in the season.

Here is LL as of today.

"Bobo's" bloom are starting to get the end of summer pink tinge.

'Quickfire' in the pink.

UPDATE:

Here is the very same BOBO almost two months later!. As you can see the blossoms get that pinky hue like many other hydrangeas do as fall approaches.

rouge - thanks for updating with a current picture! I was worried about the color it became in fall because the one I bought (because yours looked so good!) turned a muddy brown. But I wasn't sure if that was what it would do normally or whether it was just unhappy with its temporary home in a big pot on the driveway while I wait (with fingers crossed!) for fall rains to make it possible to actually plant it in the ground. So I'm very relieved by your picture of it now :-)

Woody, my Oakleaf hydrangea blooms are all brown at this point and last year they did the same. They were a nice pink color for a short time first. I believe it is my dry conditions that caused it.

Nice to see a follow up photo of your Bobo, Rouge, that's a nice fall color and it's still upright!

That's a wonderful looking hydrangea,Rouge!
I should hunt down 'bobo', 'quick fire' ,and 'pink diamonds'...I need more hydrangeas!

My QF today. Excellent hydrangea.

Does anyone have an opinion of whether bobo performs better in part shade or full sun? Are the flowers more dense or less dense? Are they less likely to droop in sun? Does it grow taller in part shade?

I have 9 or 10 of them and *if* there is enough moisture they do just fine in full sun (in my hardiness zone). But in a dryer and or warmer locale, part sun would be preferable.

My bushes are still really short this year, and it's July already. I did trim them back in the spring, just like I trim my PeeGee hydrangea tree - which already has lots of buds forming.

mxk3, I am curious as to how much you pruned your "bobos". All of ours are now sized as is 'advertised' for Bobo with the one pictured below being the largest at 4 feet wide (3 feet tall).

I trimmed them down to about 6-12".

I did minimal pruning in the very early spring. I was curious how large a Bobo can get.

With Fall's cooler wetter weather Bobos are looking less stressed, going to that pink tinge:

How lovely. I hope mine are like that next year. The two I bought this spring had flowers that turned brown a month ago. There are a few branches that made new flowers later than the rest of the shrub that are white still on one of them, but other than that they look pretty sad in terms of bloom. They did flower well initially though and the plants seem reasonably healthy. I think it was because it was an unusually dry and hot spring/summer. I did my best to keep them watered, but perhaps it was a bit too much for it's first settling in year. Thanks for the inspiring photo.

I think it was because it was an unusually dry and hot spring/summer.

I have my fingers crossed that next summer will be much less dry than what we saw in 2016.

I know this is an old thread, but it was revived less than a year ago, so I'll take a chance by asking this question:

rough21_gw, you said your bobo hydrangeas were at the advertised size after a few years. Do you cut them back at all each spring or just the dead blooms? I am considering 4 for my front foundation, but I wouldn't want any taller than 3 feet. I'm in Ohio, so a similar location to yours, and they would get shade from about 2pm-3pm on. How tough do you think it would be to keep them at a maximum of 3 feet?

I've had lots of hydrangeas in the past, and I'm a little nervous after my recent experience with limelights. My goodness those things could grow!

Thanks for any input!