Are you willing to cover/protect them all winter with something like a ring of chicken wire filled with leaves? Or would they be in a spot where that would be unsightly? IME it's not the storms, it is either extreme cold that will kill back the stems or rapid changes in temperature once the plant has started to grow in spring that kill buds that have started expanding. So for instance many folks on the east coast, even in far warmer zones that I am have lost their unprotected Hydrangea macrophylla flowers the last couple of winters because there was a warm spell in February so the plants decided that spring had arrived, and then a cold blast arrived and killed all the buds. If you plant (unprotected) one of the reblooming types (ES is one, but many folks with alkaline soil seem to have more issues with this than I do in acid soil, so you might want to research others) it may bloom for you later in the summer, but ones with only spring bloom won't bloom at all in the years that the buds are winter killed. Mine do best in the years that they get buried in snow early and stay snow-covered until spring. Or you can plant in a really large pot (think 1/2 whiskey barrel) that you set out for the summer and then bring into a building that will stay cool but not too cold all winter. This would let you control the pH more easily if you want blue flowers.

If you don't want to protect them, then I would plan on planting one of the types of hydrangeas that set flower buds in spring. There are several types of pink to mauve Hydrangea arborescens on the market by now, so you could look at them. Hydrangea paniculata, while it starts white, turns pink, some of them quite early. So my H. paniculata Quickfire spends July white, but then starts turning pale salmon pink in August and from Labor Day until frost (late October in my garden) is a deep pink. I don't know how this might be different in your warmer zone, but mine spends more time pink than white.

Hello, Kate. Those sound ok to me. But I had a MG once that died over the winter on year 1. I think the problem may have been mine... that I did not supply enough moisture during winter but I am unsure. I just know it did not come back after I planted it in the Fall. :o(

Rebloomers from the Forever and Ever Series, Let's Dance Series and such would be my suggestion if you do not like the other types of hydrangeas. ES seems to generate an unusual set of complaint postings where people report about not gettting blooms at all anytime. But the bulk of posters are typically in colder locations, like Zone 5-6.

I agree that you may have to winter protect the shrub to get reliable bloomage. This year (January) is one of those times: winters here were mild and suddenly crashed down, killing buds and stems. Some in "protected locations" were not affected. But a rebloomer mophead would 'save the day', produce new stems and bloom in the summer even if you do not winter protect.

Most of my shrubs came with the house and they tend to be non-rebloomers, small/compact serratas and oakleafs. None of those rebloom so I added some paniculatas. The oakleaf hydrangeas are more drought resistant, winter hardy to Zone 5 and now come in more compact versions that produce great Fall foliage. They may need winter protection but are worthy of consideration due to the Fall foliage show

Paniculatas and some of the new arborecens will let you skip the winter protection business and many new arborescens varieties are not white. Many unfortunately are white although they turn pink after a month or so. At the moment, I am having a mental block and can only think of Limelight and Little Lime as the only non-whites in the paniculatas but arborescens have several pink ones and lime colored varieties. But, arborescens may dislike the hot summers and paniculatas do best with more sun and yet you do not want to give them too much afternoon sun or the leaves will sunscorch.

So stopping all of my rambling thoughts and returning to the original questions ;o) maybe any of the nonwhite rebloomer mopheads (or lacecaps?) that blooms pink-purple-blue may be best if you do not like the other types of hydrangeas. Just in case you are not aware, your 3 selections of mopheads will probably turn pink in your mostly alkaline soil eastern OK has some acidic soils)... unless you amend the soil. If you want/get ES, it can get large here as our growing seasons are quite long. Mopheads for me have started leafing out quite early in the last few years so make sure you have a location that can handle the shrub's size.