Hi all,

I moved last year and planted a bunch of plants last summer, all along the same side of my house. I got a lot of suggestions for mac hydrangeas on the hydrangea forum, but I wanted advice from people in the region.

I know macs can take a couple years before they truly perform their best, but...

I planted an ES because my wife loved it and she was told it would perform well. Like what others posted on the hydrangea forum, the ES died almost to the ground.

People said Pistachio did well over winter, but it also died to the ground, with only a couple shoots at this point in mid-May.

However, my LA Dreamin is had almost no die back whatsoever, and is doing amazingly (another one my wife picked). It's about to flower. I thought the LAD was supposed to perform similarly to the ES because it is an early-ish rebloomer variety. Likewise, I saw posts that Bloomstruck would perform almost identically to ES. However, more recent posts from people in the area seem to have great results with Bloomstruck.

I'm deciding whether to give the ES and Pistachio another year, or to pull the plug, maybe put them in pots to overwinter under my storm doors with my figs and crepe myrtle, and to plant another LA Dreamin and Bloomstruck in their place.

I'd love your feedback - I already have multiple panniculata's, and I want the earlier summer flowers. I have a couple Azaleas for early spring flowers and my wife prefer's hydrangeas. We have 2 Tiny Tuff Stuff, so I'm probably not interested in more Serrata's. Consequently, probably sticking with hydrangeas.