I bought a shooting star hydrangea at Trader Joes a couple of years ago. I put it in the ground and it has been a great garden plant.

The Shooting Star hydrangea responds exactly the same as any other H.macrophylla, easily started from cuttings during the growing season. Al

I would like to see a photo of a garden plant, I can't find any online, and the thing is I can't make cutting work for me, but so far it looks ok, if I can just get the roots to accept the mix. I can't put it in the garden right now, it's too cold.

This photo shows the one that is not doing as well, half of it is limp.

Hydrangeas in the garden are pretty much dormant, at least in northern California. I am cutting mine back as I have the time. Nothing happens until the warmth of spring causes new growth from the shortened stems. Usually more stems grow than needed and the extra stems are made into cuttings to increase the stock. Al

Is it dry? Young Hydrangeas in a pot get quite thirsty.

No, it is not dry. It was cut in half and jammed in a tiny pot of peat. I rescued it and put it in a much bigger pot of al gritty mix and also also added one part perlite to increase drainage. The signs of over watering and under watering look the same. Peat won't drain well, and can make the plant limp because the roots are drowning. Consider that the main root ball is still in the peat and is waiting to grow into the al's gritty mix. It will take months. I did not separate the root ball as it was already cut and trimmed. I want to see photos of ones that recovered.

Photo from today

they look better.

This is one of my favorites and I got mine at Nob Hill. I saw it and grabbed it as I could not find it elsewhere. I repotted it and have no compliments. Bloomed very well last year. Remember that hydr means it is a big user of water.

Penny

What a pretty flower. I'll definitely watch for it at WF or TJ's, although I usually prefer nursery plants.

Are they dormant now in the garden? Please post some quick photos of them. You can do it from your photo. I don't know how they look big scale or in the ground.

I can post a photo right from my new blackberry, I take the photo with the blackberry, go to garden web, then upload right from my phone. It is very fast to snap a quick photo. I am sure the iphone does that also. I took one today after I cut off the flowers to encourage root growth not flower growth and I re staked it to make the growth straight. The plant was all tied up to make the growth bent. I feed it with dynogrow foliage. If they live I don't have room for two or even one, so it will be a problem, I will have to give one away or find even more space in my garden which is already full.

Saw some in bloom at Nob Hill today - I resisted as I have one already. Pnny

Mine is not dormant it has new flowers. I'll try to get a photo tomorrow. It's too dark right now.

Flickr has 136 results for shooting star hydrangea, but all of them are small and almost all of them are still in the small pot. I saw one in the ground that was still small. I think they don't live to ever become big for some reason. Maybe the are programmed to self destruct? Or they can't survive without a green house.

there it is finally, going dormant, though there's a flowerr there on the left hand side. It's a little over 3' tall. I had to cut it back a bit this past winter to move it over a couple of feet to give 'Endless Summer' more room.

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Wow! it looks different as a garden plant, thanks. I am hoping to make this a garden plant for me.

I used to have endless summer, but I gave it away because of lack of space and because the colors were not up to par on the flowers. I posted the best ones photos, but most of the time endless summer had unattractive colored flowers. My soil is too alkaline. If I stick with white hydrangeas, I am happier with color as white is white no matter what pH.

Here is a link that might be useful: My hydrangeas

They are really small, but I noticed good root development when I removed them from the bigger pots. They did not get transplant shock yet, either. I don't really need two of them so at some point, I have to pick one and give the other away. But, the plant root was cut in half in the pot, as I explained in an earlier post.

Mine has powdery white mildew. I won't use chemicals that I can't pornounce and am looking at a few recipes for homemade solutions: one is aspirin, another is dish soap and baking soda, another is garlic. Any of these, or other, worked for you??

The dish soap and baking soda recipe is considered effective, as non-toxic solutions go.

I got mine going pretty good, but when they are small mildew can kill the whole thing. I took them out however, because when they were big, they got huge and the flower was very unattractive. I think they are only best for the potted green house in small sizes. They don't turn well into garden plants.

Mines been good. I have not deadheaded it because of the heat, but it reblooms...its been a good plant.

Oh, that does look good, maybe mine did not like the conditions of San Francisco. Some thing need some heat to bloom properly.

since I wrote a couple days ago, I found out that you can get rid of the white powdery mildew. You can make a mix of aspirin in water or baking soda or vinegar. It worked right away! I had brought the plant into my sun porch, which meant that it was not getting enough ventilation as there is no real chance of the wind coming through.