Hi guyground, thank you for posting, looking beautiful and healthy, with a lot more leaves and stems than the ones I just picked up from the nursery! I am considering planting my new Firelights in my backyard instead of front, but we also have a deer problem so not sure I want to take the risk. I've had some success with Liquid Fence, is there something you use that lasts longer between applications?

If you want to plant it in the back go for it. What i've found is the deer like to eat the buds so the plant is most vunerable in june/early july. Once they start flowering the deer tend to leave the flowers alone.

With that in mind i'll typically use something like liquid fence in early June. Ideally that gets me till flowering and then i'm in the clear.

They other thing I have found is that once the hydrangea gets big even if the deer get some of the buds its not a huge deal because I still have a lot left.

Once a hydrangea get to year 3 or year 4 the deer are not as big of an issue. Thus, if you want to put it in the back go for it.

It's just annoying when you have a young plant and you lose the buds to the deer, like I did last year.