Thank you! I am in zone 7b North Alabama. Huntsville/Birmingham are larger cities. Yes if the sun does shine on the directly in the middle of the day it would be around 1-2 hours max. Otherwise the pines would always be filtering some of the sun. I already drugged up holes and there aren’t really many roots at all in the area at the center which is around 20 feet away from the pines at the periphery. I do not have an irrigation system but will supplement with my water hose/sprinkler like the rest of my garden. We do not have a water shortage so I can water.

All three are good choices for morning sun conditions. Oakleaf hydrangeas are more drought tolerant than the other hydrangeas and have a very nice fall foliage show. Incrediball is also familiar to you although I find smooth hydrangeas very summer heat sensitive here in hotter Dallas. As for Big Leaf Hydrangeas, you would do well with either the Endless Summer Collection, the Let's Dance Collection, the Stuff Collection or practically any rebloomer Big Leaf or Mountain Hydrangea. However, if the Big Leaf will have limited sun exposure in the morning, I would choose cultivars with shorter/shortest heights. Some new varieties include the ES Pop Star, the Tuff Stuff Top Fun and the Let's Dance Lovable & Sky View Hydrangeas

@luis_pr

Thank you very much.

Is endless summer less heat sensitive than smooth hydrangea?

When I had them both in front of the house, smooth hydrangeas had more severe wilting episodes.

Dianela, I don’t know what type is best for your climate-hydrangeas pretty much take care of themselves here but did want to say there isn’t a huge difference between Annabelle and Incrediball, at least in my yard.

Yes Incrediball‘s blooms are a bit bigger but not drastically and if room was a concern I would pic one of the others, just because I like a variety.

Having said that, I have plenty of space so will always have both an Annabelle and an Incrediball

@oursteelers 8B PNW

Oursteelers my largest concern is the light. It seems Luis thinks I will have enough light under these trees for at least smooth, oak leaf or big leaf hydrangeas. As you can imagine I already tried roses and they were a no go. Have you ever grown paniculatas under trees like these or do they really need sun like roses? What I originally wanted was white wedding or Bobo but gave up after reading they need a lot of sun like roses. I just keep hearing all about these newer varieties taking more sun and but what I have is bright shade or dappled sunlight. Can they tolerate more sun or do they need more sun?

You can grow paniculatas under those trees but paniculatas bloom at their best with full sun exposure (as long as the summers are not Texas harsh, hot and dry). In full but bright shade, the bloom sepals will turn green for extended amounts of times that could even include the complete growing season (Little Lime) with green only.

Thank you Luis for your post, that is what I wanted to know.

I am glad Luis posted, I always plant in more shade than optimal for sun lovers and even sometimes more sun than the shade lovers would prefer. I’m always testing to put things where I want them and then will move later if need be. Tree roots are far more damaging than light requirements in my yard

Thank you oursteelers. I am struggling so much to make this new lake garden into anything pretty. I don’t know how to garden in shade. I am hopping hydrangeas and azaleas can help me because they are the shade plants I like best.

Can you grow camellias there?

Oursteelers I think so. I have two currently there and they look well. I went to the garden center yesterday and bought 4 bloomstruck hydrangeas to try in the middle of the circle. I like camelias but they seem to be so slow growing I wanted something faster.

They are WILDLY slow growing, aren’t they? But blooms often remind me of roses so I thought you might like them

I think any hydrangea would do OK with 1-2 hours of mid day sun. As was stated above, they may not perform optimally, but good enough. I have an oakleaf in a similar situation and it does great.

I've grown to really like Invincibelle Spirit II. I think it's a sport of annabelle. The flowers in the pictures are pink, but mine are more white than pink. But they look nice. it does well in a lot of shade.

Thank you @charles kidder

I have a lot of dappled shade all over my property. I appreciate the recommendations and will look for that variety on my next garden center trip to try. So far my new collection includes, some ruby slippers, a Pee wee oak leaf, a climbing hydrangea, an unknown variety of oak leaf I got as a gift from a nice neighbor, Bloom struck and the Bobos I originally bought for the pine tree project. Hopefully I will learn to be a hydrangea gardener without too many casualties.

Climbing hydranges are also super slow to start but once they take off they are gorgeous

Oursteelers I can’t wait to see the climbing hydrangea climbing. I placed it on the Eastern side of my two story home on the chimney.