Am I too late to plant a hydrangea received as a gift ? I am in zone 5.
planting gift hydrangea
Hydrangeas from florists and gift shops tend to be a bit fussy. If I were you, I'd baby it inside and gradually harden it off once it starts to warm up in spring.
Carol
Carol's right about them being a little touchy, but even beyond what she said, most of the florist hydrangeas are H. macrophylla's which bloom on old wood, and even varieties of H. mac which were intended for the garden won't tend to do well in your zone because the flower buds will get frozen off during the winter and then the plant will come back fine in the spring but you won't get very many flowers (maybe none at all). So even if you wait until next spring to plant it, this will be a problem that you will continue to have every year unless you're able to really protect it well in the winter so that the buds don't freeze. If you like the look but don't want to go to as much trouble, get one of the reblooming H. macrophylla's such as 'Endless Summer' which bloom on new wood, that way you don't have to worry about flower buds getting frozen.