I've been hearing a lot of good things about H.Paniculata 'Quick Fire'. I picked one up this year. It was teeny-tiny so I'm not sure how it will do in my garden yet for flower or form. I also have H.Paniculata 'Pink Diamond'. The flowers were a beautiful white changing to a nice dark pink. I can't tell what the true form will be in my garden because the deer have been having their way with the shrub for the past couple years. Still worth it even half-eaten by deer!

Which climber do you have? I'm pretty sure I just picked one up with pink flowers and I can get the name off it once I get outside this morning. It's still sitting in my driveway patiently waiting to be planted!

thanks Thyme...I that pink diamond sounds nice....I will have to check into that one. I don't have any idea which climbing one I have..bought it on clearance for like 1.50 and it had no tag..It is white tho and a lacecap variety of some sort...

If you have the room for a big plant Pinky Winkie is stunning its a paniculata. The for ever and ever series has a double pink.

My favorites are a combination of Little Lamb, White Dome and White Moth. They are all 'new wood' bloomers so can/should be cut back in the spring. They are very floriferous and long blooming.

July:
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October:
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They are quite happy to let group 3 clematis wander through them as well, which extends the interest into June.
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Another thumbs up for Pinky Winky. My GC had a Hydrangea speaker and he couldn't say enough good about Pinky Winky so I had to buy one to see what all the fuss was about. I like it better than my oak leaf!

Mickie

Limelight is my favorite. I'm also in zone 5 & have planted in Nov. sometimes, so I think you not only will have success but you should get back to that treasure of a garden store & buy alot more!! Good Luck & happy planting.

woodyoak, nice shots. Did you make the trellis?
Tammy

I love that clematis winding thru them..I had not thought of that before....gives me some ideas on another way to use them in another area...thank you woody.

Pinky Winky is one that had also on sale. I think I might return for it with all of your advice. I dont recall how much it was but it was a large plant..and nothing was more than 20 bucks..most in the 10 to 15 range and very nice size bushes..thank you for everyones suggestions.

keesha - The clematis/hydrangea combo seems to work really well - it was one of these 'happy accidents' at first and then I started doing it deliberately! I don't have good pictures of the other combinations but I like strong colored (dark red or deep blue or purple) clematis with white hydrangeas. Try it, I'm sure you'll like it :-)

Tammy - the tripods are just three bamboo poles in a terra cotta finial you can order from Lee Valley. There is copper wire threaded through the poles in a couple of places to give the clematis something to hang on to. It's all a bit flimsy though so I'm planning on building something sturdier this winter to replace the 3 tripods we put together this way.

Woodyoak, Little Lamb is my favorite hydrangea. I love it's fall color and daintiness.

woodyoak - Where did you get those trellis caps? Are they terra cotta? I have a ton of bamboo I need to use for trellising and I've been looking for something decorative to go at the top.

You can e-mail me off-list or post it here. Thanks!

Jennifer

I got the finials at Lee Valley Tools - see link below. It's a bit op a finicky job to get the poles stable in them. We ended up also putting a short piece of pole up the center after the three poles were in place. That seems to fill the gap in the center and keeps them all stable. I just realized it's time to bring the finials in - the terra cotta probably wouldn't survive the winter here. We drilled holes throgh the bamboo poles every 12-18" or so and threaded copper wire through the holes. That gives the clematis something more to grab on to. I'm intending to replace these tripods with something sturdier using rebar sheated in copper pipe, with painted wooden finials on the top. I'm still working out a plan for that. We'll build them over the winter and place them in the spring.

Here is a link that might be useful: terra cotta finials

There is a new hydrangea called Vanilla Strawberry that will be out next year. I've pre-ordered 2 from my local nursery.
It's like a cross between Limelight and Pinky Winky, with the full flower heads of Limelight and the pink-and-white coloring of Pinky Winky.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vanilla Strawberry

hey lois...I looked at that link..very nice...I did not see how to preorder it tho..did I miss something? GORGEOUS COLOR!

Hi keesha,

No, I don't think you missed anything; I think that site is a wholesaler. There is another link next to the picture that takes you to www.BaileyNurseries.com, then you can type in your zip code and (hopefully) find a local nursery that will be selling it. Or, if you are lucky enough to have a family-owned nursery nearby, you can call them up (like I did), and gush over it. The nursery I called ended up putting an order in for 20 of them because of me (yikes). I did commit to buying 2 when they come in March.

Lois in PA

Lois, i cant remember if i asked u before where in pa u lived?
What nursery did you get to place the order? i asked at my favorite nursery, best feeds in pgh but he wasnt sure if hed be ordering them. He did say he ordered a ton of those boomerang lilacs, so im going to get a couple of those!

Hi lilyfinch,

I seem to remember someone asking that, so maybe it was you. :o)

I live near Lancaster, PA. There is a nursery about 10 miles away from me in East Earl called Conestoga Nursery. It's a family run place, and they have a lot of variety and they take good care of their plants.

He said they order their nursery stock bare-root and I think they grow them on for a year before selling them, but I could get a couple when they arrive in March if I didn't mind bare-root. Of course I don't mind bare-root, and I am not expecting them to be very large plants, either, because they are only charging me 11 bucks per plant. It's still worth it to me because I don't have the time to run around to 20 different nurseries to see if they happen to be carrying them.

Congrats on your boomerang lilacs. It's great to have something to look forward to, isn't it?

Lois in PA