Photos that show foliage will get you a species. Need actual flowers to get much more than that :-)

Central Massachusetts zone 5b. This is one of the varieties I have planted in southern Maine zone 5b. It is approximately 3 feet tall and wide. It gets morning sun and it's in the shade all afternoon.

The other hydrangea was planted in Massachusetts by our builder last year and I don't have a photo.

It is approximately 18" x 18" and the blooms last summer were a lace cap. The new growth is coming from the base of the plant the old growth looks dead. I will post a photo when the plant hopefully blooms.

Thanks again

It's a bigleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla. Hard to be specific about the exact cultivar but Endless Summer The Original, Nikko or Nantucket Blue are possibilities.

Thinking if it’s Lace Cap...Twist & Shout or Tuff Stuff

The foliage and flowers of your macrophylla looks like an Endless Summer The Original (I have one). They are one of the most common cultivars sold in the Northeast.

Gle2011,

There's a huge misconception with Macrophyllas. When they are advertised as cold hardy down to zone 4, it actually means the root ball, not the blooms. In my opinion you need to be in zone 7 or higher to get good blooms without winter protecting the shrub. If you are below zone 7, winter protecting is an absolute must if you want good blooms. Without it, shrub dies completely back down to the ground and if it's a bloom on old wood only variety, it will mostly be a foliage plant.

I'm in zone 6 (30 mins West of Boston) and all the Macrophyllas in my immediate area completely died back to the ground this past winter. None of them have growth coming off old wood. I actually winter protected mine and I have a ton of new growth coming off of old wood as well as new. I have a Nantucket Blue which is a repeat bloomer and blooms off of old and new wood. Supposed to perform better in colder climates when compared to an Endless Summer or a Nikko Blue.. Only time will tell but considering the amount of new growth i'm getting off of old wood, It's looking very promising.

If either of gle’s sites are coastal, macrophyllas will have a good chance of doing well, Billy. For those of us who are inland, your comments apply.

Am I wrong the Hydrangea in question is a Lace Cap ?

The hydrangea in the picture is 2 years old and is planted in corner of our Maine cottage facing east. It is protected on 2 sides from the winter winds, I didn't do anything special to winter protect it this year or last year. Altough there was alot more snow cover two winters ago.

I am hoping it will do just as well this season.

I do have two "Light of Days" facing east but not protected.

I have only had one bloom on one of the plants for the last two years, funny thing is it seemed to flower on the same branch.

Question regarding the Light of Day plants; Do they bloom on old or new wood?

Thank You

Hyed, gle has both lace caps in MA and mopheads in ME.

not tuff stuff

Freda, what does that mean? That the photo isn’t Tuff Stuff? If so, Hyed was suggesting that for the lacecap one which gle doesn’t have a photo for. If it is because you don’t like Tuff Stuff, why? I have found that Tuff Stuff does great in my cold garden.

Sorry I was trying to correct what I wrote. I didn't read it correctly. I do have tuff stuff and thought the comment was referring to the photo posted.

With very few exceptions, the foliage of any macrophylla will look like the foliage of any other macrophylla. That is not a very defiintive way of determining what cultivar of mac it might be :-) And if one were to hold the bloom heads of ES, Nikko or Nantucket Blue next to each other, one would be very hardpressed to say which was which!

Gle,

If you haven't been getting blooms it's usually caused by two things. Too cold of a location or you trimmed the shrub. For macrophyllas, you generally don't want to trim it at all because you run the risk of destroying the bloom inside the stem for next growing season.

If you haven't trimmed it in any way, it might be because your location is too cold and you didn't winter protect it. This growing season might be a loss for blooms but this fall I would consider winter protecting it before your first frost and then remove the protection once your frost season is over.

Like others have said, there's no easy way to tell apart an Endless Summer and a Nantucket Blue from each other. Only way to find out is if your contractor had some sort of record of what they bought/planted for you 2 years ago.

It's probably ES as that one is widely sold at garden centers including big box stores like home depot.