Oh,

I like their Bloomstruck (aka Rockstar) pictures in ads but, you may want to check your soil pH to see if your plan is doable. Many of the Bloomstruck type of hydrangea ads mention one "word of caution": if your soil pH is either very alkaline or very acidic, the blooms may not turn out to be a mix of colors but rather all pink or all blue. Of course, they do not say what soil pH range they recommend their plants for. I even asked and got no response. So, proceed with caution if your soil is "very" alkaline/acidic; maybe try just one shrub first... to see how it works out. That way you do not end up spending $$$ and getting results not to your satisfaction.

I wonder if some photos of your site wouldn't be in order. I see from another of your posts in groundcovers that you are in Chicago, so a Z5? Have you thought this through and are sure you would be happy with deciduous shrubs for your focal point, they are not going to have much late Fall, early Spring, or winter interest and will surely experience regular winter set back (temperatures) in your climate. I don't know that I could be of much help with design in a climate as harsh as your own, Gardengal who answered you in groundcovers could be, it's her job ;) There is also a Landscape Design forum....

I'll probably just go with the Original then. I still have a lot of area to clear and then I was going to test the soil pH after everything was mixed together and if I have to add any extra soil / compost. I believe it is only slightly on the acidic side currently, so I'll need to add an acidifier to it to get it more so for blue.

Yep I'm Z5. Just updated my profile with that. Sorry. Don't have any photos of the area currently (stormy day today), and honestly that part of the yard will look a lot different later, but I fully understand winter will limit them certain times of the year. I've got some old Annabelle (I think) ones in the yard in random places currently so am very used to them being cut back to the ground every year. I do have one ES already in a pot that I foolishly didn't cover this last winter and yet the fully exposed areas all seem to be fine.

I mainly only care how it looks in the middle of summer when I could have friends over for a BBQ or something. And of course just to look nice on a nice beautiful day. In winter I'll mostly just be outside because of my puppy. And there are evergreen bushes around the patio that will stay, along with evergreen trees in the back and along one of the other property lines. So mostly it would just be along a line that currently has some sort of bush that looks overgrown and crazy in summer and just a tangle of stems/vines in winter. ES will be a nice upgrade honestly even in winter. I'll probably end up getting a blanket to cover them in winter to be safe. I'll find out from the local garden center what they recommend for the ES they sell.

So from the sound of it I'll just want to stick with the original rather than trying to find the sweet spot for the bloomstruck.

Thank you both!

Yeah don't try half of those in zone 5. :P

Bloomstruck was bred from plants with ruddy pigmentation, so you'll almost always get some type of pink or purple in soil that lends to blue. For the color, it's hardiness is unbeatable!

Early whites are a very critical area especially. If you want hydrangea whites in May-June in colder regions, H. arborescens are the only way to go. This year I'm after Haas Halo, which is kind of a lacecap version of Incrediball.

Just to be clear. You do realize annabelle isn't anything like a macrophylla. Annabelle blooms on new growth so you always get blooms. Macrophyllas bloom on old growth so if the stems die over the winter, you won't get blooms. You can winter protect, but it's very hit or miss. You have to do a lot more than just put blankets over the plants in zone 5. The best insulation is likely a deep snow cover. Endless Summer and others claim to produce blooms on new growth, but they still bloom more on old growth and new growth blooms are spotty. I've found endless summer to be a terrible bloomer.

Deep snow cover as in pile a lot of snow on top of them to insulate them from even colder air? Just wanted to confirm since I am a complete novice and hadn't heard of that method. Probably doesn't help I grew up in Mississippi and moved north not too many years ago.

Luckily my current Endless Summer in a pot seems to have done well through this last winter (no polar vortex, but still cold) with new leaves forming on the old growth. And that pot was left foolishly uncovered all winter. I'm only this year starting to put a lot of time, effort, and thought into the yard now that other big projects with the house are done.

Good to know the importance of old growth on Endless Summer. I had planned to protect them, but this shows it is even more important. Luckily I like the look of them even without the blooms (although blue blooms are a huge huge plus), so absolutely worst case I will at least have that. Many of my neighbors seem to be very successful with their Macrophyllas (not certain what they do in winter) so hopefully I can learn how to protect them.

You won't know how it did until it produces blooms. If you're getting new stems emerging from last year's stems, you're probably OK, but if all you're getting is growth near the bottom of the plant, it's likely you won't get many blooms.

What I meant by snow cover was having a lot of snow on the ground works very well for insulating purposes. You could pile snow on the plants, but probably the best approach is to bury them in leaves in the late fall. If you do this, you need to be careful of late spring frosts killing the new growth. I've moved away from macrophylla's since I find them to be too fickle, but if you want blue blooms, you have to go with macrophylla's.

Snow isn't a guarantee, either. I had two Everlasting Revolutions buried all winter by my front walk and they were deader than their cousins without any protection along a north walk. Each are sending up 30 new shoots now, but I put my life on them not blooming.

I'm so happy to find this thread because I just bought an LA Dreamin' and a Harlequin, and they are going to be grown in containers on my balcony (2nd floor apt) and I can't figure out how best to protect them overwinter. I have a garage and a storage unit I could put them in. I could bring them inside. I could also cover them with giant trash bags and/or blankets. What would everyone on here recommend?

I actually just had to bring my potted one into my garage last night since we are suddenly dipping into freezing temps again this week (what happened to Spring!?) and I don't want to kill the new buds. Fun fun. I'm just glad it was in a light pot.

The best thing to do would be to bury the pots and cover the tops in leaves, but that's a lot of work. Potted plants have the same effect as being 2 cold zones lower. Generally speaking. The reason is the roots get much colder in a pot than in the ground. If you don't want to bury them, the garage is a good spot. Put them in a giant plastic hefty bag and fill the bag with leaves or crumpled newspaaper and tie up the top.

Thinking ahead for me for next winter, would grass clippings work as well as leaves? Not sure I will have enough leaves in my yard but certain to have plenty of grass clippings.

Kidhorn, I guess I should have mentioned that I am in a second floor apartment with a balcony and no yard. The complex has professional gardeners come in and take care of the grounds, and they don't leave the leaves around long enough for me to steal them, lol. Would wrapping in a blanket, then giant hefty bag be okay? I could bring them in the house too, do they need overwintering to get better blooms?

Peter - grass clippings might create a smelly mess. If you live in an area where leaves are picked up on trash days in the brown lawn bags, find a neighborhood close by with mature trees and just cruise by there on trash night. ("Just" being relative to how easily embarrassed you are and how much you like your hydrangeas.) A drive by on Saturday to see who's mowing and bagging (so you get nice chopped leaves) is best.

smelly mess...good to know. Leaf hunting it is!