Thanks Kingcobb, just ordered it and can't wait for it to arrive.

Book Review - Just my opinion.

This book is great for the East Coast and North East. But not for the West Coast or PNW. I found it very disappointing and would not recommend it for most hydrangea lovers. Dr. Dirr goes into details with his research on Macs but hardly mentions Serratas and other species of hydrangeas. He considers them inferior to Macs in beauty and value. He does however mention two nurseries in the PNW for obtaining hydrangeas; HydrangeasPlus and Joy Creek Nursery - two of my personal favorites.

His list are always a quick and informative read, but they do not give information for our Marine climate. One of the lists reports the non blooming tendencies of multiple hydrangeas and this issue is always one issue reported on the hydrangea forum. Non blooming hydrangeas in the PNW is not an issue although one of my Pia's did not bloom this year - but it is almost buried by three other plants and will be moved as soon as it goes dormant. One interesting thing is that he considers Hydrangea Lady in Red, a Serrate.

Oddly, the book does not have an index. He explains that he was not up to the task of making it and so it is not there. This makes it very difficult to use the book as a reference although it does read fairly well as a narrative. Book will be read and passed o, but not kept in my personal library.

If he's retired from teaching he doesn't have the TAs (grad school teaching assistants) who probably did the indexes previously. I would find a book without an index lacking and I'm a Dirr fan.