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kurchian

Endless Blooming Question

11 years ago

I have an original Endless Summer that I've had great luck with. It provides all summer blooms.

I'm interested in trying a different hydrangea that equals the endless Summer original in bloom season here in my garden in zone 6A. I want the shrub to be 6' high or less.

I've read about some Proven Winner hydrangeas (Tuff Stuff, Lets Dance Starlight, Bobo) that claim to flower as long and freely as the Endless Summer collection.

My local garden center guy also said to consider Bombshell, Little Quick Fire, Next Generation Pistachio as they bloom as freely and as long as the Endless Summer collections.

My question is: If my priority is long bloom season should I try an alternative to the Endless Summer collection or stick with the Endless Summer Collection?

Comments (2)

  • 11 years ago

    Tuff Stuff is very new - not sure of its performance. Bobo, Bombshell and Little Quick Fire are all paniculatas, so a different type hydrangea altogether than the ES Collection types. But they do bloom very freely.

    The Endless Summer series, Forever and Ever series, New Generation series and the Let's Dance series are ALL reblooming macrophyllas and should have a very similar extended bloom period.

    review of reblooming hydrangeas




    kurchian thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
  • 11 years ago

    First off, get the whites out of the way. If you want early: hydrangea arborescens, mid: quercifolia (dwarves in your case), mid-to-late: paniculata. There are more and more dwarf paniculatas coming out every year. Bobo is supposedly up there. For me Little Lime is awesome and will not disappoint! But If you're in zones 5-6 you're more or less wasting your time with macs ES Blushing Bride or Emile Mouillere, because they will only churn out about 10% of the blooms the of the aforementioned species. Snow Storm I haven't played with outside yet and Zebra (black stems) is restarting from the ground. But a final note on whites: I have had TWO Forever & Ever Peace (double-white) for several years which seem to churn out about 5-10 blooms each year while growing to 3x3'. I find this acceptable and would recommend it over any other white mac!

    ES Bloomstruck is a new entry that supposedly blooms as good or better than ES Original. This will only be year one for my single specimen, as far as natural freeze-thaw-bloom cycle goes.

    Pistachio has actually cranked out more blooms for me than ES did, so that information is correct! It's a small plant in comparison though like 2-3' max, so you'd probably only use it in the front couple feet of a bed, in front of larger shrubs that can provide afternoon shade for it.

    You might want to try All Summer Beauty as well. They're cheap, get as large or larger than ES and supposedly bloom well, and the colors are a unique pastel with deeper streaks that you don't see on its cousins.

    Top lacecaps are Let's Dance Starlight (I don't have one), Tuff Stuff (spreading habit, 2-3' tall), Forever & Ever Summer Lace (ES in the lineage), ES Twist n' Shout (mine are having trouble setting basal buds and restarting).

    For me, the remainder of both the Let's Dance and Forever & Ever series has only produced a handful of blooms each year and did not repeat - less than impressive, except for Peppermint which can produce several super-massive blooms, and Together which is a 2' dwarf. F&E also sells their Red under two different plant names: Red Sensation and Maltisse. You want to avoid Maltisse as an outdoor plant at all costs. To differentiate, Maltisse opens green and turns red, while RS opens whitish pink and turns darker pinks.

    Sorry for the rambles.

    kurchian thanked October_Gardens