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

DonnaMack wrote:
Oh my goodness! What incredible oakleafs.

I forgot to mention that I think one of the reasons my original ES bloomed so well was that it was next to a wall, and I kept a soaker hose around the base and watered it every week. Forgive the mess in the second picture - it shows the location well - which was south. And I burlapped it in winter. The effect was probably that of raising it's zone from 5a to at least 6a, especially with all that brick. I got this despite deadheading it in the spring

Also, it was a gift from the marvelous young man who built my hardscaping. He was only 26, but he wanted to be independent and this was his first major project after working for others. He ran over schedule and felt badly, and this was his thank you.

As you can see from the first pic, in September, it was quite big. I took good care of it, but it made me think ES is a piece of cake to grow, and it really isn't.