Slightly more than 12 inches!

Oh, my critter patrol would have gone beserk if they had seen the picture! Hee hee hee! That is how I lost a few hydrangeas and camellias. LOL! ;o) Nice blooms and starting the transition to pink.

Oddly enough the big fat groundhog has left the plants alone. But he lives under my neighbor's shed, and if he's spotted he'll be shot with his .22

Very pretty!

Thanks for the picture! Very pretty VS

7 hydrangea VS planted in a row. 5 years old , now 6 ft tall. 10-12 inch blooms

Flowers turning pink

Lovely ! My SV is only 2 years old so I hope it will not flop as much as it gets older. One of my favorite plants.

It won't flop as much as it gets older.

I have some other SV which underperformed until this year, their 5th season when the true splendor of the plant came through.

It's a plant which can need time to show its glory.

I plan on keeping these forever so they will have time to develope stronger stems.

I also hope it does not have so much of the brown on the bloom. It seems like it burns a little. It gets full sun.

My VS hydrangea flowers for the first 4 seasons had a lot of brown on them. I was thinking about getting rid of them.

This season, however, no brown and huge flowers.

The only thing I can think of is that it took that long to establish well enough, so flowers could stand up to the heat.

That gives me hope. I was trying to think of some way to shade them but now I hope time will help. I have only had the hardy hydrangea for 3 years.

Hello guyground - how far apart did you plant your VS?

5 feet

Not sure how to keep them from falling over! How to prune?

Wow, it looks nice malibucruzer. In some cases, you could try using chicken wire and not pruning; or just let them be. Older plants handle this better because the stems' wood has hardened but there will still be some flopping if you get these humongous blooms. Newly planted shrubs have new weaker stems and big heavy blooms which results in blooms falling over. If you prune the stem, then eventually you will get two branches developing at the end and these will produce blooms, possibly smaller than before but the combined weight might still cause flopping. Depends on whether the stems are hard enough to hold the weight and when they are new, it is tough. Did I say wow, it looks nice already?!?!?? :o)