Yes, I would pot each in its own pot. If they are happy in their current location and not in the way, keep them there. What do you plan to do with them over the winter?

NH: thanks!! You confirmed what I thought would be best, however if bad storms come, I better move them. I don't know what to do when weather changes and temps dip. My BIG hydrangea mother plant has weathered it all thru the years thru mild winters, hurricanes with my property flooded, and those hard winters with hail and some snow, but these babies are surely tender. Don't think they will be all that robust/strong by November. Lowest of low temps here can be 10 degrees in winter months.

You could bury the whole pot up to the rim for the winter.

Thanks for reply. At least I have a little while to think about this. My property looked like a lake last year from hurricane. Feel like I need to keep these pots of baby hydrangeas up high off ground. On a shelf stand under my carport. Don't know how much light they need.

Once the leaves drop, they don't need a lot of light until spring. But you want to avoid freeze-thaw cycles, so perhaps group them in a cluster and wrap the pot group with bubble wrap, pour in inch or so of mulch over the top (but don't wrap the bubble wrap over the top, and keep any eye on water so that the soil isn't dry or soggy. I am not familiar with your zone but the goal is to keep it from freezing since you can't keep it cold all winter. It is the alternating freeze thaw or really wet soil that kills most plants in winter in zones warmer than mine I think.

Thanks for the info!!! Am taking notes, and sounds like a plan. OH, should I be fertilizing these at this time? I get scared of burning plants/flowers so I usually will dilute fish emulsion fertilizer on my established flowers in bloom every week or every other week. I saw one guy on utube mixing in a little coffee grounds into his planting medium and sticking hydrangea cuttings into it for giving eventual nice blue color. Sounded good to me as I would love a very blue color, however,I thought the hydrangea had to be mature before doing so.

Thanks Babs. Appreciate your info.

Diane, I definitely would NOT fertilize anytime after August 15th. You do not want to encourage new green growth that will be too tender to make it through the winter. So if you must fertilize, do it today :)

THANKS HH. I'm going to pass on fertilizing, from what you have said. Glad I got lazy and haven't fussed over them, tho they look fine. Some website, suggested diluted fish emulsion once a week for rooted cuttings was a good thing, but I didn't rush outside. GLAD I didn't. Have not added any fertilizer to the cuttings from the start to date. The three pots of "babies", as I call them....only one has some dark brown at very edges to it's leaves. All are moist but not soggy and have drainage. BTW: somewhere I read that new growth on the babies should be pinched out to enhance more growth/multi stems. Think it was when the rooted cutting reaches 6". Mine are about 4" max. Is this correct? Or?

Diane, I would not pinch out anything. These will turn into branches and eventually be the structure for your shrubs. Let the soil dry out - to the touch - between watering. You don't want many weak stems - 4 or 5 for the first two years is just perfect and they need to get strong enough to hold up their blossoms. If you are growing low growing perennials, then pinching will help. If you are growing herbs, then pinching will help them get nice and bushy. Every website and utube will have all kinds of 'must do's' and most are wrong! The more you look for advice the more useless advice you will get. If the babies are growing and looking good, Leave Them Alone! I have at least 150 babies in the back yard and all are fine, not fertilized, not pinched and not messed with at all except watched for slugs, too much sun and if the leaves start to wilt, I give them a drink. The cuttings I started last fall are all blooming and are happy growing in almost all day shade. One pot was hidden and in a saucer of water that got really sour - actually it stank! I ran fresh water through the top of the container and out the drainage holes for about 15 minutes, put it in the sun to dry out and the cuttings are all now doing just fine.

150 BABIES!!! Whoazers! Thank you for the sound advice. Won't be pinching back the few babies I have. Right now, mine are very happy and content under the umbrella of patio table outside. No fear of too much sun on my property with a good many old, tall trees. (like trees). My worry is what's coming up shortly. It's hurricane season Sept-Nov. and last season ALL had flooding, including into my cottage in back of my main house. My old home felt like I was living on a houseboat with no electricity for almost 2 weeks including our small town. This year could be worse if one lands here since soil already is saturated with rains almost daily last month or more. Then there is the present high temps and humidity which will turn from swamp weather now gradually to frost days, on average, in November.. I can bubble wrap them, leaving tops open to air, as NHBabs mentioned, however keeping them higher off ground and safe from high winds would be possibly under my carport which would be dark against the one wall. Room inside my small, old house is very limited and have 4 inside kitties, and oh yes, also....one flower eating dog. LOL. Will figure out something.

Btw: the hydrangea that is called "Lace cap" I think, is very pretty, however I heard something negative about that variety. "Endless Summer" variety sounds good to me, if I wanted something different from my ONE mother plant which is old and fat. She might get jealous tho. LOL. Thanks so - Diane

Lace cap isn’t a variety, it is the flower form, so if you have one that you like, go ahead and grow it and ignore any negative comments since it most likely didn’t apply to your cultivar. The two main groups of big leaf hydrangeas are mop heads (very full of the large infertile flowers which totally hide the small fertile flowers) and lace caps (only have the large infertile flowers around the outer edges of the panicles with the smaller, more delicate fertile flowers filling the center.)

I have become totally smitten by serattas. Some horticulturists put them in their own category, and older sources - books - classify them as a branch of Macrophylla. Either way, they tend to be smaller - most are lacecap, and many are double with delicate flower heads. Interestingly, they bud out later than the Macs and therefore are less apt to be damaged by late frosts or freezes. I recently bought some from Gardensoyvey in TN and they arrived in perfect condition even after traveling more than 5 days in summer heat and all the way to Seattle Washington.

Here are the two that I just bought. They are huge, and in large containers and will stay happily in the originals until I can find a spot for them in the garden! lol I am going to have to move a couple of older mopheads. Can't wait to see if Beni stays red for me.

This is one of the other ones - could you resist this beauty? Not me! lol

Oooh, Ophoenix, such temptation! I will have to check out hardiness since some serrata such as Tuff Stuff do well for me, but Blue Billow rarely has flower buds that survive unprotected, about the same as for macrophylla hydrangeas. Both of your new acquisitions are just gorgeous!

Thanks, my motto 'you can be too rich, too tall and certainly too thin, but you can't have too many hydrangeas!' lol

Ophoenix: Wow. What's not to love?!!!! You got me going..Looked up the Serratas. Saw images and info on also the Serrata "Bluebird" It's leaves are said to turn a brilliant red in fall. How much did each of your serratas cost you plus shipping, if you remember? Am wondering why you got them now, instead of in Spring? I would imagine to enjoy them NOW. In your zone will not the leaves drop off come late fall? Have made notes to put this on my list of wants. Great that they will take part shade. Good for me. THANKS SO MUCH for telling and showing me,

Love the motto!! LOL

Why now? Because they are fairly rare and I did not want to miss out adding them to my garden and fall is a great time to plant them in the PNW. We have mild winters and Wolfgang, the owner, said that we did not have to worry about protecting them in the winter - they are considered mountain hydrangeas and my other serratas do just fine in the winter. Yes, they will go dormant, but the roots continue to grow and acclimate the plants to give them a very good start for next year. We layer the plants in the garden, so the bare branches are offset by conifers, hellebores and ferns and evergreen ground covers. Our climate is considered Marine and we garden 11 months a year - as long as you don't mind working in the rain! lol

Given your location my question was dumb. LOL. I'd want those beauties now too, if I were you. I have not seen anything like them around here in rural NC. I see mop heads in yards, always blue ones, but then in this immediate area, yards are of little color, interest, and more. The TN company where you ordered from....would they only have serratas available at certain times of the year? I'd like to get one, and then hope I could take cuttings from to have more and more, since I am on a very limited budget. It seems like there are many different types of Serrata, from a quick glance on the web. How did you ever choose? Like the "Bluebird" I looked up, what impressed was long blooming period, hardy for my zone, large "flowers" in abundance, and part shade loving since I have many large tall old trees. You must be thrilled, You have me hooked. Do the Serrata, if one takes cuttings, take 5 yrs to mature like the mop heads? At my age, that's discouraging, LOL, truth. I want to enjoy now before I'm pushing up daisies.

Hellebores should be another that does well in shaded locations I thought. I've only seen closeup images on the web. I can't get a picture in my mind how they would look in my beds. If they are too floppy amidst their foliage which would not have them stand out, so to speak.

THANKS AGAIN

Diane, go on line www.gardensoyvey and you will get all of the available plants and if you have questions - send them an email. Wolfgang, the owner will get right back to you.

thanks so much. I've saved the website. They sure have lovelies. Am drooling.

Diane, I am in South Ga and know all about the hurricane rains! I take cuttings and stick them in half pine bark fines and half potting soil. (mixed together) Makes for excellent drainage, but keeps them moist. I also just leave my rooted cuttings out in the weather, all winter. They go dormant when its cold anyway. I have my pots lined up against a chainlink fence in dappled light and they all survive fine! If I get lazy, I don't even pot them up, just leave them in the rooting pot...separate them in the spring and pot up. I used to kill everything when I tried to root something. I think I just tried to hard, overthinking things. I can't root anything under plastic! lol The bark mix is a life saver! My cuttings get hit by the sprinkler, soaked by rain, and they keep on going! I think the drainage is key!

Too bad I don't have a bag for my lawnmower for I have several pine trees. I don't mow the lawn, rake up. and never have paid attention if the pine's shed. Perhaps I should save pine cones when they fall in abundance in fall. All new to me. You're so right... drainage is very important!! THANKS for your great advice.