Hydrangeas: I am tired of my mop heads blooming so late with so few, 2 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
I hedged my bets by waiting until desperate retailers reduced the price on 'Endless Summer' to $6 from $26. I bought two. One did not make it through the winter, but the other did and has a few blooms.

My oakleafs, after two winters, have finally put on some size (but not much) and look healthy. I have two Snow Queens and a Snowflake. It's weird. When I was in Lake County with full blasting sun my oakleafs and Endless Summer did much better. I put soaker hoses around them but they were on the south side of my property and did well in as much as 90 degree heat. By June they were outrageous!

Now I have them in more shade with better soil (the clay based alkaline soil of the plantings in these pictures was only amended once) and they sort of putter along.

Bummer. I should have dug them up and taken them with me!