I prefer Little QF because it is smaller and I like its medium yellow foliage color in the Fall. But the one I have is Little Lime. Paniculatas usually bloom on new wood so they are more reliable in the blooming dept; and panics are winter hardy to Z3.

I also like the foliage color of oakleaf hydrangea leaves -AWESOME!- so have at least one of those. I have Pee Wee and am satisfied with it. Its blooms are panicle shaped but Vaughn's Lillie is similar sized with blooms that sometimes look panicle shaped and other times are mophead looking. May flop a little.These bloom on old wood.

ES is a pure guess. Some people have had issues with it not blooming at all but others have no problem so who knows. Just be aware. I have not seen either any or few complaints in the blooming department with the rebloomers in the Togerther & Ever Series or the Let's Dance Series. I would select rebloomer mopheads/lacecaps in Z6 to 'almost' guarantee bloomage when winters are unusually cold..

Tuff Stuff is also very reliable from when a winter standpoint!

I love them all but at the moment the oakleaf Ruby Slippers is my favorite. It bloomed in May and the flowers still look great as they have changed from white to pink and now to a dark pink.

Thanks everyone for your responses! I wasn't familiar with quickfire, very pretty and maybe too large for our plot. That and the ruby slippers have a really nice red, but my wife wanted to stick to a pink and white flower theme :). I'm enjoying the endless summer and not having too much remorse about getting that instead of a bloom struck. Our tuff stuff just keep putting out new blooms!

If you're in the Pittsburgh area, take a spin around the streets of some of the older neighborhoods like Oakmont to see some of what people have been growing for a long time. The hydrangeas are doing especially well there this year!

Oakmont is nice - haven't driven around there in a while, but we walk around Aspinwall all the time and there are some wonderful hydrangeas!

Oakleaf - any oakleaf - is my favorite. These are four season plants for me, looking almost as good in winter as they do during the regular growing season. The only oakleaf I have encountered that I didn't care for was 'Vaughn's Lillie' - overly doubled, very full blossoms that droop down because of their weight. Looks overblown and blowsy.

Jury's still out on Gatsby Moon as well. I'm trying to let mine grow to 4-6' within a few years to see how much the blooms sag from that height. Mine has not bloomed this year, but we've been getting about 2" of rain weekly in June-July so that'd be a pretty fair test

I like firelight. It's a beautiful paniculata so very sun tolerant and hardy! I also like my Amethyst hydrangea because it has lovely vibrant colored blums.

If you've got small-medium spaces to fill, I've been trialing the following macs for 2-7 years with some success:

Lime Lovebird (if you can find one) has been the most profuse bloomer of 2017 with tons on old and new wood. The new wood actually started blooming first!

The "reds": Grateful Red, Cherry Explosion (lacecap), Fuchsia Glow

Proven Winners series: Edgy Orbits, Let's Dance Rave, LD Rhythmic Blue, LD Diva, the Tuff Stuffs.

Forever & Ever series: Summer Lace (largest - 4x4'), Peace, Peppermint, Pistachio (smallest), Together (hit or miss), White Out (heavy shelter, no direct sun)

Everlasting series (up to 3'): Amethyst, Opal, Revolution, Coral (with shelter), Garnet (with shelter), Noblesse, Pearl (white holds up well in sun!)

Lacecap Serratas (up to 5'): Blue Billow, Purple Tiers, Lady in Red

Everything NOT mentioned (except for arborescens, paniculatas, oakleafs) I'd call extremely unreliable in zone 6.

Thanks everyone, and especially the comprehensive list, springwood!

My favorite tends to be the Pee Wee Oakleaf - I enjoy the bonsai forum, so I'm drawn toward the interesting trunk/bark and smaller leaves. My wife loves hydrangeas - she is from Erie and her mom planted serratas, all sorts of mopheads and a limelight all over their lawn. We actually got the ES in Erie, so I'm hoping that, and the LA Dreamin, will produce flowers in Pittsburgh. Once she saw those two in the store, there was no leaving without them! I guess we will have to see how they fair after the winter...

mintcar123 those are very nice ! Are they always that pink color or is that because of your soil ?

bsmith...Amethyst is always that pink color. I love how bright it is!

Yes, the lake front has some great growing conditions as it's in the zone 7 umbrella!

I've found Pee Wees this year at Lowes, got one myself actually. Surprisingly enough its sister Sike's Dwarf my parents picked up a few years back for their place, and it's hitting 6' in height this year, so I wonder if there was some false advertising there.

Yeah, they live right on the lake, but it gets really cold and snowy up there in the winter, and their spring starts later.

My dad has an oakleaf that he swears was sold to him as a "pygmy" and one year it all of a sudden reverted back to the full size variety. However, he mixes up his plants sometimes.

Springwood, have you planted any hydrangeas in containers? I was thinking of potting a smaller paniculata of some sort, but I wasn't sure if it would survive winter.

Jweingarden, I bought 3 Little Limes at the end of last summer right. I went out of town for a bit and we hit a hot dry spell; I thought they had all died when I got home. I left them where they were and was surprised they were all fine in the spring - just a little dieback to trim off. I realize last winter wasn't that bad, but I'm still pretty confident they would do well in a pot.

Thanks! We recently got a strawberry sundae, but I'm leaning toward planting it in the ground rather than in a pot. Really nice small leaves and nicely shaped flowers.

Springwood "Lacecap Serratas (up to 5'): Blue Billow, Purple Tiers, Lady in Red" I have Lady in Red labeled as a Mac. ??

Serrata's are variations if macrophylas, right?

Springwood, Luis, help!!!

Actually depends on who and what you use as a reference! this is a complicated question. lol

Yes, LIR is classified as a mac. Some people consider serratas as a subspecies of macs while others consider macs and serratas different. The question remains under debate. Due to hybridization and Mother Nature's "whims", some particular plants are difficult to classify one way or the other so see this for more info:

https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/45326/PDF

To me, serratas tend to be smaller shrubs with smaller (lacecap usually) blooms that handle sunlight better and bloom later which is good in cold climates. Think: Tuff Stuff. But they are so close in their upkeep that I never care much for whether they are one or the other; it just does not make a difference for little ole me. ;o))

Thanks Luis, good explanation and as you say - does it matter? - my comment to Springwood was a tease after he caught me calling one of my macs a serrata. I stand corrected!

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice last year! Interesting seeing all my hydrangeas coming back this spring.

- LAD: almost no die back, starting leafing out really early, and looks good

- ES: A fair amount of die back, slowly coming back, and some leaves on thicker canes, but seeing some buds swelling out of branches that looked dead last week.

- Pistachio: almost complete die back, but starting to see a few buds swell on branches that looked dead last week. This was the last one planted, and maybe it would have benefited from being planted in spring with more time to settle in. Some new branches at the base, which will hopefully be a little more winter-hardy next season.

- Tuff Stuff: almost no die-back, slower to wake up than the LAD. Lots of swollen buds, but not as much leafing out.

- Oakleaf: starting to leaf out, no die-back.

- Bobo: very very slowly starting to see new branches budding, minimal die-back on tips of some branches only down 1-node.

- Strawberry sundae: new branches poking out all over, but barely leaves yet. A few thin tertiary branches died back.

- Little Lime: potted on our porch, this was the first to bud out and has some leaves. Seems like overwinter in the pot on our porch was just fine despite a pretty frigid winter in Pittsburgh. Minimal die-back.