I am also in zone 5/6 in NE Ohio and I have not dared to plant a lacecap out there in the outdoor flowerbed! I have one (Claudie) in a big pot and I overwinter it in the insulated (but unheated) garage during winter.

Now, I have read about this new lacecap that is supposed to bloom on new wood - the "Let's Dance" Starlight hydrangea - does anyone know much about it at all?

Only that it is a Spring Meadow Release and probably one in a series. They do advertise it good on Zone 5.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Meadow Link

I have a neighbor with a lovely blue lacecap in full sun, no protection. Against my advice, she cuts it back every spring. That dang thing always blooms for her somehow.

mehearty,
Root whatever she cuts and you will have it as well :-))

Ooooooooooooh! Mehearty, if you are going to get some cuttings, save me some too! :-)

Seriously, if your neighbor has a zone 4/5 hardy, full-sun tolerant blue lacecap, you need to get it patented before Dirr finds it!!!! LOL!

Spring Meadow (from Michigan) are the ones who came out with Limelight. I'd trust them
P.S. I have two lacecap hydrangeas. They were actually florist hydrangeas and a gift several years ago. When the blooms faded, I put them in the ground thinking they MIGHT grow and I'd wait and see. They pouted a couple of years while they got acclimated, but now they do bloom unless we get prolonged cold in April (like last year).
I'm willing to grow a diva or two as long as I've got reliable blooms on other plants.
Mehearty, lools like you could sell rooted cuttings for big $.

Luis - Thanks for the link - I'm learning something new everyday - be it from what I already have &/or from experts ready to educate us!!!

I have never mail ordered - may have to, as they don't stock up on 'Lace Caps' here. I found 'Midnight Duchess' (a Dirr creation - Royal Majestics series) last yr and hope to see bloom this year.

I saw a thread in this forum, on dependable mail-order nurseries - will try this year to get a couple or 3 for bight/shade foundation bed. Blue Billow, Grayswood, Frillibet, Lanarth, Blue Wave, Coerrulea ... any further comments on these beauties, Ego45 or Luis?

Any of these, when grown in the ground (as opposed to a pot) can get huge. Blue Billow can get very wide but probably tops at 4'. Lanarth White will get big height-width wise so give it about 8' separation between it and other plants. Grayswood seems average to me but I have seen some specimens whose blooms looked great in the fall. Frillibet is a sport of Madame Emille, an excellent plant; if it gets the good stuff in its parent's DNA, it too should be a good specimen.

She's already done the big prune, so I'll have to wait until later in the year to try to score some cuttings. If I can get some cuttings, I promise to contact ostrich & ego! =D I've got another neighbor who trims Nikkos to the ground every spring, and those puppies bloom, too! I swear sometimes the way to get blooms is to abuse your plants. lol

BTW I do believe I have some weird micro climate here (in fact I recently upped my zone a bit on my profile). I've had little trouble with zone 6 plants. It's bizarre, but Il take it!

Coming out next year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Endless Summer Twist n Shout

:::faint::::

"... Twist-n-Shout is a cross between H. ÂPenny Mac and H. ÂLady in Red, and combines the best characteristics of both..."

PM is not a reliable rebloomer/new wood bloomer, LiR while having interesting foliage change in a fall, in bloom is nothing to be proud of.
Curious mind wants to know what those BEST characterics are?

mehearty says, "I swear sometimes the way to get blooms is to abuse your plants. lol"

You are so right and so funny too!!! :-)

mehearty, I am learning this also. You baby them and then they die on you. You ignore and abuse them and then they would love you and reward you with lots of big blooms. Isn't that just so true in life!? ROTFLOL!

'BEST' characteristics probably includes Zone 4 and lace cap blooms. One has to think commercially: "how much can I exagerate without saying a lie and still get you to send me money?" LOL

I went ahead & ordered 'Claudie'. It was a very good price so I am chancing it. Ostrich, how big does it get for you in that pot (& how big is the pot)?
My past experience with HM is complete dieback, no pruning required! But now I know a little more about siting & protection. If 'Claudie' doesn't do well, may I get in line for some of those cuttings?

Thanks for all your answers!

Raee

Raee, my Claudie is only in its second year. I bought it in a 2 gallon pot last year, and it has been sitting in a pot that is probably about 16 inches in diameter. It was overwintered in the unheated but insulated garage. Anyway, it is now about 3' wide x 2.5' tall! The blooms were absolutely stunning last year. Though the fall foliage was nothing to write home about, and it did suffer a little bit of powdery mildew during fall, the beauty of the blooms just made up for these other attributes (or lack of! LOL).

Here's something from last year:

If you like the lacecaps also check out all the serratas. They're a little more reliable and cold hardy in iffy areas. There's not much difference between some of the macros and serratas and some varieties like blue billow, blue bird, wilson, greyswood all sort of look the same. But look into some of the japanese woodland serratas that don't have so much the typical florist blooms, but overall make for sometimes nicer landscape plants with a neater smaller habit and blooms that cover the plant. One of my favorites is Tiara, then you have knockouts like Midoriboshi Temari with it's double blooms, and Fuji Waterfall with it's gracefull weeping flowers. I started collecting all sorts of hydrangeas based mainly on bloom, but now that my garden is maturing, I find that though the macros make for a nice bloom photo, the serratas make for a nicer overall garden specimen. I have like 30 different serratas now. But don't get me wrong I still have some of the teller lacecaps, but on iffy years when they don't perform or get bud damage I still have all the serratas going to town. The Tellers are just a nice bonus during a good year.

"If you like the lacecaps also check out all the serratas. They're a little more reliable and cold hardy in iffy areas. "
Agree.

"But look into some of the japanese woodland serratas that don't have so much the typical florist blooms, but overall make for sometimes nicer landscape plants with a neater smaller habit and blooms that cover the plant. "
Agree again.

"The Tellers are just a nice bonus during a good year."
Very well said!

Could you tell more or better show a pictures of Tiara.
It will be blooming for me first time this year, but I'd like to know little bid more about habit/size and seasonal transition of spent flowers and foliage, if any.
TIA.

Ego -

Here's a pic of my Tiara from two years ago. After five years it's stayed fairly small (which I like in my smaller city garden) at about 3.5 x 3.5. It's a very neat, thick, symetrically mounded bush (esp. for a serrata). As you can see from this picture too it tends to be a bit more than just a lacecap, with a nice solid ring of flowers with the occasion extra sterile flower thrown in through the center. Thre's also a nice quality about the sterile flowers where the petals are held very apart and the flower is very flat, it's almost like they're cut out of paper. The flowers can almost cover the entire bush. As you can see too the foiliage seems to be inbetween what you'd expect for a serrata and a macro, it's a very deep green leaf.

One thing I like is that here in GA where EVERYTHING tends to go so blue with the soil chemistry Tiara keeps a very pretty sort of pinkish lavender. You can see in this picture, the Lady in Red in the foreground with the light blue, the Greyswood behind it with the darker blue, then further back at the top of the picture in the background is the Tiara with the distinct pinkish lavender. I would think in more neutral soils it might tend to be very pink. I like to try a lot of different varieties and have about 30 or so, but Tiara is one of my favorites.

creech,
Thanks a lot. Very nice hydrangea, indeed.
Does it change color of sterile flowers in a fall?

P.S. That BLUE Lady in RED sounds like a joke, doesn't?
Mine look the same :-((

Hey, I'm resurrecting this old thread to let you know how it turned out with my purchase of 'Claudie' in spring 2008---I planted it on the the east side of the garage, where it gets morning sun. My garage is not heated and I've had no luck trying to overwinter plants in there, so into the ground it went--sink or swim. Only 1 of the 2 survived. Just like my variegated Hydrangea (don't remember the name) which I have kept for the foliage, it has survived but never bloomed and stayed very small due to the yearly die back. Some groundcover roses are in front of them.

I bought and planted an 'Endless Summer' next to it 3 years ago which has done very well and dominates the space.

I was shocked this last week to see that, although still small, both 'Claudie' and the variegated one are blooming! on the new growth!? It is beautiful! but hard to see because of the roses and 'Endless Summer'. I had never expected to see it bloom and frankly had nearly forgotten about it.

We had a prolonged snow cover this last winter, very unusual for us--I also had dahlias and even parsley overwinter in the ground although I thought that may be due to the heavy layer of mulched leaves that I added last fall--the area with the hydrangeas and roses didn't get the leaves.

Last summer I bought "Edgy Orbits" from a local nursery. I'm not sure why, as I am not much for the lacecaps....

Anyway, I planted it in the fall after neglecting it most of the summer. This spring - it bloomed it's head off-more than my endless summer. I did nothing to protect it, actually, I sort of forgot about it.

It was the first of all my hydrangeas to bloom this year. Planted on the North side of the garage....

must be something in the air;) some of my less hardie ones are putting on buds this year and most of my old die hards like blushing bride and all the forever and evers aren,t even thinking about blooming for me