Thank you all for the responses to my questions. I don't usually abandon a thread like this, I apologize. I am not sure if I have been getting all the responses in my mailbox as I used to do. GW has been erratic for me in that regard. ego..I really enjoy the photo of your Oakleaf and hope that next year I can pay more attention to my two so that some day they may look like that. :-) We had the worst drought this year that I can ever remember in my garden in the past 27 years. We had a water ban and even when other surrounding towns received rain, for some reason we would get a sprinkle and that would be it. Some of my shrubs and perennials look pretty awful and the Oakleafs especially. I start out with dry shade/part shade in a majority of my yard, so I don't think they appreciate those conditions. I am waiting for spring to move one of them due to the fact that it is in such bad shape I don't want to stress it further. Actually, I am having difficulty getting shrubs established at all along my lot line that is in the root zone of several maples. They just suck the moisture and nutrients out of the soil. We left two piles around the garden this summer..one was leftover soil from a patio project and one was unused mulch. Within a couple of months time, the mulch pile was full of tree roots and the pile of dirt which was there a good 6 months and was 3 feet high, had tree roots through it all the way to the top of the pile. Which has me thinking, no wonder my shrubs are slow to grow etc. I am trying to keep them well watered between now and a freeze and ordered 5yds of composted cow manure to spread along that lot line. I am hoping that will help but after seeing the roots in the piles, I am wondering if I need to dig out around the shrubs again and see if that will give them some more growing room for another year. I actually have two shrubs that seem to be doing well without any additional attention. A cornus racemosa that has doubled in size under the dripline of a very large Silver Maple and a Viburnum Wentworth that is also twice the size and bushy with no sign of drought stress at all. I am tempted to fill the whole back lot with just those two shrubs..lol. I do love the Oakleaf Hydrangeas and will try to help them along to continue to see some growth. Thanks for all the input... pm2

I agree with tsmith, as to amount of direct sunlight an Oakleaf Hydrangea can tolerate. The best blooming / growing cultivars in my garden and throughout the neighborhood, receive full afternoon or all-day sun exposure. Haven't experienced or observed any leaf scorch at all throughout the many years they have been growing. Be sure they receive good drainage, as they absolutely will not tolerate wet feet! Mulch and keep watered for the first couple of years, after the roots become established, you can pretty much ignore them.

Yes, I remember our chat in the other thread and many of you may remember that I bought this Vaughn's Lillie at the end of the season, all cut back except for just a few beautifully colored leaves. I decided it was so late in the year not to set it out but to place it inside a small outside building, not heated in anyway, but would certainly help protect from direct frost and freeze. Now that it is planted, I will definitely cover during winter to hopefully get all these beautiful blooms next year. Our winters are not too bad usually. Anyway, the sun exposure is lots of morning sun; from lunch to about four(shaded by the fence)it gets indirect bright hot sun; then from four to maybe five or so, more direct sun again. It is in a hot location, but I don't think it would be doing as well there if I weren't watering that area heavily every few days because of some other plants close by. The color of the leaves on this young plant look more pale in this morning sun than they really are. The close up photo of the bloom shows more true leaf color. The leaves are more delicate and smaller than my other OH. The Alices and Snow Queens I have (all blooming well) both have larger and more coarse type leaves. Though both have pretty fall color, they don't compare to this little girl. I think the color on some of the leaves is just a normal thing for this OH, or perhaps it is all the sun it is getting. She seems to be really happy in this spot. I just could not believe all the blooms on such a young plant. It is quite exciting to see, and I definitely will have more of these. My next OH will be a Harmony, hopefully before the end of the Summer.

Oakleafs are very temperamental when it comes to overwatering. They develop root rot when the soil stays wet for long periods of time. An infected plant can die so it is important not to overwater. The symptoms of overwatering are the same ones as those of not watering enough because in either case, the plant growth above the ground does not get enough water. So, other than smelling the roots to see if they smell rotted, what can one do? Try watering using the finger method, monitor the wilting episodes and maintain about 3-4 inches of mulch up to the drip line. A newly planted hydrangea shrub will wilt often, especially when it is hot and-or windy. Part of it is because its root system is not as big as it once used to be and part of it is because transplant shock. Large leafed plants sometimes suffer from this. An extreme looking wilting episode requires watering right a way (1 gallon). Otherwise, water (1/2 to 1 gallon) if the episode is not too bad but the soil is almost dry or dry. Generally speaking, a hydrangea in moist soil should recover on its own by nightfall or next morning. In future years, this should not happen as much as it does in years 1 and sometimes 2. But there will be days when the temperatures are too high or it is very windy. If the soil is moist and the plant has not recovered by the next morning, it may be suffering from root rot. To water using the finger method, insert a finger into the soil near the base of the shrub to a depth of 4". When the soil feels wet or moist, do not water. If it feels dry or almost dry then water and write a note in your wall calendar saying that you had to water on that day. Check the soil daily, at the same, for about two weeks. Then review the notes and determine how often you had to water. It would be something like every 3, 4, 5, etc days at a time. Then set the sprinkler or drip irrigation to give 1 gallon of water (for a newly planted small hydrangea) on that same frequency.