Ciad Mile Faile (A hundred thousand welcomes) Cape Breton Greetings!
I have recently started gardening and fell in love with Hydrangeas. I have a couple of Niko Blues who were caught in the late spring freeze and are now just big green bushes with no flowers. Hopefully they will return next year to their former glory. This year I planted 3 Blushing Brides, 2 are flowering the other shows no sign of any buds. I also picked up a couple of Annabelles which are full of buds. Yesterday I added to my flock with a couple of Pinky Winkys. Neither have any flower buds on them. Can anyone tell me whether I will get any flowers this year from the Pinky Winkys? My idea of gardening is to choose plants that require little care other than watering and the odd bit of fertilizing. I live in zone 5b, can anyone tell me should I cover all these Hydrangeas this winter.
Pinky Winky
All of yours except for Nikko Blue bloom on new wood so you won't have to cover them for the winter, but for Nikko Blue you'll give it a much better chance at flowers if you do cover them.
I think Pinky Winky blooms late in the year so there's still a chance it could bloom for you this year, but many times when shrubs are newly planted they'll focus on root development first and won't bloom much if at all, so don't worry if it doesn't bloom.
My two Pinky Winky's have just started blooming. I think ecrane is right, root development will (and should) be top priority for your new plants.