No personal experience, but here is what local nursery says in their catalog for zone 5 - Chicago (They are an excellent nursery and won't sell just anything)

" Flat clusters of fragrant, six to ten Inch flowers produced in June. Older stems have peeling brown bark for Winter interest. Good for stone or brick surfaces. Often takes a couple of years to establish, but grows rapdly thereafter. WILL NOT BLOOM FOR SEVERAL YEARS."

Hope this helps.

I bought one at the end of fall at home depot in 2004. I am not sure how old it was but it was about 2 or so feet tall. The first summer I had it (last june) it had 1 large flower. I can let you know in a month what happens.

Jim

Climbing hydrangeas are notoriously slow to get established and slower yet to bloom. Obsevation and experiece has shown me that, like many climbers, climbing hydrangeas begin to bloom when they can climb no higher. To that end, pick a height that you can reach and cut the everlasting out of them...convincing the vine that it can go no higher. Most of the climbning hydrangeas and their relatives (Schizophramas, Decumaria) bloom in the spring....mid May to June in zone 7. Cut them after they bloom, or when they would bloom in your zone. I have seen all these climbers in pots with stakes looking rather like bonsai with blooms.

Mine is 5 or 6 years old and getting very large. I have had a few blooms throughout the years but not many. This year I count about 6 flower heads that will bloom. I cut back the branches that get in the way but it has climbed up my brick wall to a bit over 6'.

Thanks so much for the answers! I'm glad there is hope yet. I want the plant to cover a goodly sized area so I suppose I'm in for a wait if I must wait until it runs out of space to see blooms.

Hurrah! I am happy to report that my climbing hydrangea has one tiny cluster of buds on it. I hope that perhaps it will produce more small ones before the bloom time is over.