hi i have a ton of german iris tall mixed colors mixed with reblumers med and dwarf, all originally from jackson jerkins i would be interested in some oak, plmk c

Ah the hopefulness of a gardener with a dead shrub. I'm doing the same thing with a leafless Cotinus Golden Spirit while one on the other side of the yard is fully clothed in leaves now. Tonight I bent the main branches and they were still flexible so I declared there was still hope. Yes, all Oakleaf hydrangeas here, even a 5 inch cutting in a pot, are fully leafed out now. And I'm well north of you. So sorry :(

Those quantities would be per each watering. At first, use the finger method daily -early in the mornings- to determine if you need to water. Insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4 inches (10.2 cm) approx and see how the soil feels. If it is dry or almost dry, water the shrub and make a note on a wall calendar saying that you watered on that day. After checking daily for 2-3 weeks, review the information on the calendar. Determine about how often you had to water: for example, once every 3/4/5/etc days. Then set the sprinkler or drip irrigation to water the plant (1.5 gallons) on the same frequency (every 3/4/5/days). But if the weather changes and the temperatures depart from the usual and stay much higher/lower, you can use the finger method for another 2-3 weeks to see if you need to tweak things and water every 5/6/7 days instead. I normally give my hydrangeas 1 gallon of water per watering in Spring, Fall and Winter. During the summer, I increase that to 1.5 gallons. If the winter is not mild (that is,m it is cold, snowy, icy) then I try to water them only once every two weeks. Larger hydrangeas will need more water than that. Note: if you notice that the edges of the leaves are browning inwards, the plant needs more water. If you notice that the leaves are drooping/wilting, they should recover on their own by morning if the soil is moist. When I see an extreme wilting episode, I use the finger method and immediately water if the soil is almost dry or dry. If the leaves remain limp 24/7, the plant roots probably have caught root rot. It happened to me once with Alice, a large oakleaf hydrangea. I too enjoy the look of the oakleaf hydrangea leaves in the fall. They are very nice indeed and I have been trying to add more plants with nice fall foliage. By the way, I looked up H. quercifolia 'Burgundy' in a book and it said that it was an introduction from a place in the Netherlands but did not say how big or wide it gets. Do you know what the approximate dimensions are? Just wondering. There are quite a few "dwarf" oakleaf hydrangeas now and since I do not have much shady real estate, I have been concentrating on getting "small" hydrangeas.

There is no hard way to propagate hydrangeas. Commonly sold hydrangeas are very, very easy to propagate; rare ones might be. Those two methods that you mentioned are most often used to propagate. Some people even report success without a rooting hormone. So do a forum search for more info. ophoenix likes to propagate hydrangeas and replies to many of these questions. Post again if you have any specific things in your mind. http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Hydrangea-from-Cuttings