Other than both series being recomband I don,t think they are at all alike. ES will bloom on every single branch but the colors are paler than FS and the stems aren,t as strong so a good rain can take every stem to the ground for a few years until the plant becomes established. I like BB best of all of them because she tends to be the first to bloom and ages beatifully. I have most but not all of the ff series yet so I cann,t say which is the best.

I don't have all of the Forever and Ever series and I do not have 'Blushing Bride' but the above post is correct in that Endless Summer series seems to be a bit more prolific in terms of blooms--remontancy does not necessarily translate to "heavy bloomer." With that said, if what you are after is a reliably blooming hydrangea with average flowers, ES Original is great and probably best. However ES Original is weak in the color department and weak in the stem department. The Forever mopheads are certainly better and held on stronger stems. On the contrary, I prefer 'Twist-N-Shout' (ES) over 'Summer Lace' (F) for colors and stems.

'Blue Heaven' and 'Red Sensation' of the Forever series are the sapphire and ruby of the remonant hydrangea world. Far superior to Endless Summer and even many traditional/classic varieties for their coloration qualities; 'Red Sensation' in particular starts out with green sepals that develop red which is a stunning transformation.

I like how much different the F&E foliage is across each type, where as ES Original and BB look the same to me. Twist n Shout would be my favorite ES foliage, having darker leaves and reddish stems. The Bella Anna arborescens looks identical to my regular Annabelles aside from color.

The F&E Fantasia is my favorite, as the leaves look like they're pointed up 45 degrees. I haven't observed the slightest of leaf droop in the recent heat and it's had the least water of all my H's. The largest plant in the series, I can't wait to see how the blooms perform in my soil and climate.

so whats better ES series or Forever series

They are all great for their own reasons. I have only had problems with the Red Sensation in the FE series. If you are looking for fast results the Blushing Bride & Twist n Shout are #1 in my book in that category. But the variety of the FE series can not be denied. But my FE's have grown slower and not as many blooms so far in their earlier years. But still do the same if not better than the original ES. Love the Blue heaven for it HUGE mophead blooms, Peppermint & Together in the FE series for their unique blooms and smaller size. Also Proven Winners Let's Dance series are reliable reblooming hydrangeas.

In that regard I'm glad my red sensation turned out to be a Summer Lace. It wasn't affected much by these Spring freezes and has grown quickly to 3' from a 1gal pot. Also recommended.

I have Blushing Bride and Endless Summer and they are very reliable bloomers. Last year I tried Forever's "Together" and "White out." The Together is a double hydrangea---very pretty, but it bloomed once and that was it. So much for re-blooming. :( "White out" on the other hand....OMG do I love this hydrangea. I often wonder why it isn't discussed more on this board. I have 4 of them in pots on my front porch flanking the door and they are BE-A-UTIFUL. Bloomed over and over into October. I overwintered the pots....put them in the garage and watered them very sparingly throughout the winter months. They are the only hydrangeas in my yard right now that are pretty Lol because of NE Ohio's early warm up/frost. They are just gorgeous and LOADED with buds -- one is just starting to bloom. I know I am in the minority, but I am not a huge fan of Blushing Bride. The flowers on white out are just prettier and such a bright white (in my opinion) and for me, she blooms like crazy.

Overwintering the hydrangeas in pots was wonderful! I had instant lush plants on my porch in May....around the time when I'm usually filling my flower boxes with annuals and they look so puny for the first month. I used to have to fill those pots up with annuals and instead saved a ton of money by overwintering and bringing them back on out!

I bought a Summer Lace last year. Did well, plus rebloomed last year and this year is showing many buds on it. Looks like it will be a solid hydrangea also.

I like the Blushing Bride for how hardy it is & first to bloom in my yard. But is towards the end of my list for favorite hydrangea flowers also. People looking for a care free hardy hydrangea in the North, cant go wrong with this hydrangea. Plus if you want a larger reblooming big leaf hydrangea that blooms white. I think it is your only choice.

Together will rebloom if you prune off the older flowers, but in my yard they never look spent till the first frost in Fall.I had a large limb fall out of a tree and prune one of mine in the middle of the year. It bloomed again and is one of my favorites! The blooms are very sturdy and change so many colors through the year. Depending on the soil they end up being a deep red or deep purple color in Fall. Mine never brown out till frost and have a hard time pruning flowers that still look great.

I saw at our Lowes for the first time a White Out in flower and it did look awesome! I think I might have to try one after your comments joanne...lol..Very unique bright white flower! Looked to have darker green foliage than the rest of FE hydrangeas. I have a very sunny yard and I am running out of spots for hydrangeas...lol. I have a small spot that gets sun till about 1pm or a little later. The darker foliage worries me it might be very sensitive to mid day sun. What kind of sun does yours receive joanne? It made me nervous how the blooms look like ruffled floral hydrangea blooms. At 1st look it was hard to believe it could be hardy in our zone. Looked to good to be true....lol

My porch is covered, so it doesn't get a lot of sun. It is fairly shaded... I would say some morning sun 8-11. That sounds like a good spot for it---the blooms stay so long in the spot I have it and don't brown. The shade doesn't affect the blooming though....Here is a picture of how it looks today (I counted 24 buds on this one little potted plant!) {{gwi:1003394}}

Which one is that in the picture - White Out? If so it has a lot "looser" of a structure than the ones Lowe's currently has. I would buy one if this were going to be the case.

I think it would make hydrangea number 50... I still have room for about 15 more in my back border and who knows how many more pots?

It is F&E White Out in the picture. Last year, it was a lot tighter (which I liked for where I have them--in pots) but as it has grown, this year it has loosened up. The leaves appeared a darker green last year too. Even with the tighter structure, the blooms were so big and bright that they are hard to miss--it's not like they get 'lost' in the leaves. It is a more "formal" looking hydrangea (which appeals to me) with flowers that are not floppy at all. I will take a picture of the flowers once it is in full bloom---they have pretty ruffled shaped petals and are pure white (light green first, aging to bright white.)

I saw my local Lowe's had its last one and it was healthy, so I had to get it today. I somewhat successfully split it in half and made two 5-gal pots, which were each 6 bucks from Rite Aid ("cracked pepper" off-white bowl-shaped with pedestal bases).

By "somewhat", I tried to quickly use a spade to slice the crown in half, but it ended up rotating on me and I came out with a good half and the other was just a handful of loose stems with a few roots attached to each. Of those, there was a stem with a bloom, another with a floret, a horizontal stem that had already layered itself, and couple more young stems. Also fallen off were a few nice cuttings which I stuck in a pot of wet soil. Good enough for me!

They will fill out fine I am sure! Here is another picture of one closer to my door (gets more shade.) The leaves appear darker green so I guess that depends on the amount of sun it is getting...

{{gwi:1003396}}

Looks Great!! Hope someone posts someday in a colder climate that is does good planted in the yard and can still produce after spending a winter outside.

New poster here. What success do you hydrangea people think could be had by planting the above-mentioned hydrangeas in half whiskey barrels, which would remain outside all winter in Zone 5? These barrels are not covered by a porch or anything.

In the Endless Summer Series they are good down to zone 4. I say they would be your best bet and I would try to keep them in morning sun. If you have them in pots in mid day to evening sun. Be prepared to be watering them almost daily. Zone 5 rated hydrangeas I dont think would make it in pots without protection in the winter. Zone 4 hydrangeas might even be a stretch in a bad/extra cold winter.

Yep, the darker shiny leaves of White Out contrast GREAT with the pure whiteness of the blooms. Some day I'll definitely put one in the ground and measure the bud kill over the winter/spring.

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I'd say go for the whiskey barrel. Pile up leaves or compost around it around Winter and the roots should not freeze. Also make sure it's in a lower elevation, protected from wind or near a wall, fence, or foundation.

hydrangeasinohio...I am in Cleveland, where are you? We get pretty cold here (although they technically just changed our zone to 6, we've been 5b for years.) I had 2 in the garage, and buried 2 in the yard. The only difference seems to be the leaf growth of the overwintered ones was more....although, now the other to are catching up. Lots of buds on all 4 (although the 2 overwintered ones truly are loaded...but yet, I wouldn't say the ones that spent the winter outside are sparse at all!)

Hello joannemb, I am South of you in Summit County. I changed my zone to 6...lol...But hard to believe we will never get a zone 5 winter again. Good to hear the White Out is reliable in our area! Cant wait to hear from people if the Fantasia and Pistachio FE Hydrangeas are worthy also. Would really like to have those in my yard, but no clue where I would put them....lol. I also see FE changed the size of the Together. Used to say 2-3 feet wide. Now says 3-5 feet. I thought mine were pretty much full gorwn, but I guess not. My one spot I had left I put another Together in. I was growing it for someone else in a bucket and they no longer wanted it. I really like the Together, makes 5 of them now in my yard.

You talked me into it joannemb, I bought a White out...lol. I replaced a hosta that I had duplicated in my yard and gave it to my sister.

LOL Hurray! :) You won't regret it hydrangeasnohio !

I have just one Hydrangea bush and it's an Endless Summer. At the beginning of the season, it was just covered with blooms. I cut a few off to see if it was true that two would bloom in place of one but all I got was some leaves. That was in June.

Since the endless hotspells and constant thunder storms have hit my hydrangea, it appears that it isn't happy in this endless lousy weather and I have hopes it will dry out and possibly bloom once more if we have normal September weather.

I wouldn't suggest moving your Hydrangeas if you're a newbie like me until (if!) we have some normal weather. This weather has been very similar to the weather my sisters have been experiencing in Annapolis and North Carolina. Just keep it happy, mulch it and hopefully you'll see a difference if we ever cool down.

Just my opinion but southern NH has been like the South as far as weather is concerned this Summer!

so lets add Lets Dance vs Es vs Forever Series-all different but how did they do this winter? Which do you like and why. Which ones in the 3 groups are the best?

LD - only overwintered Big Easy - it has some buds. Will report on Rhapsody Blue next year. Somewhat unrelated, Tuff Stuff has many stems and a few buds so far.

F&E - In bud volume, Pistachio leads the way (~20). Behind that, there's Peace, and a tie between Peppermint and Together. On two Originals, there isn't yet a bud between them. Red/Maltisse has zero buds. In-ground White Out has zero buds, but will bud later because it can bloom from everywhere. Summer Lace got hit hard by winter (even though it's stems are hardiest in the series) and has a couple buds on the several new stems it put up. Blue Heaven has grown the largest of the outdoor bunch so far (pushing 2' already) but hasn't put out any flower buds yet - hoping it will once it reaches its max height.

ES - Original, TnS, BB all tied in size and bud volume so far.

This post was edited by Springwood_Gardens on Fri, Jun 6, 14 at 8:36

Big Easy has 6-7 buds and Tuff Stuff showing one but growing nicely ,F&E like you Peppermint has a few buds and both the orginals nothing as of yet-don't have the others. ES all are all loaded up but TnS is the leader by number of flowers but all are in bloom. Nothing of course from the older varieties except for one or two well sited ones.