Even moisture, mulch, shade during the most intense sun and heat, but sun in the morning. I rarely fertilize, but I do add compost and/or mulch as a top dressing. If you do fertilize, start next spring and don't fertilize after about now so that the plant can harden off before freeze. New plants generally don't need fertilizer. You may need to winter protect if you have warm weather and they start waking up, followed by a cold spell (if you want flowers).

Here is some useful reading:

http://hydrangeashydrangeas.com

The pink one (looks like Ravel) is notoriously bad outdoors. But try your luck in good soil with shelter from bad freezes and elements and see what it does! You can potentially get away with planting now, but not in much of any direct sunlight.

You're going to have leaf faults from season to season. Unless the plant is dropping or has browning leaves at an alarming rate, I wouldn't be too concerned.