No, a color change suggests that the bloom is mature and spent. After several weeks, a white paniculata hydrangea bloom begins a progression of color changes that ends in a brown bloom, similar to the color changes observed in roses. If you lived in a southern location, you could try deadheading the bloom after it begins to change and see if you get new bloomage. Some paniculatas do that in the South but I have not seen anyone confirming that VS "reblooms" for them. Reblooming white mopheads (H. macrophylla) will produce new blooms if you deadhead the spent blooms but, I am not sure if they can grow in your zone/location because you do not have this information displayed. Normally, they have winter hardiness issues when planted in very cold zones. An experiment that just occurred to me: you might be able to lengthen the amount of time that it stays white if the shrub is relocated to a spot in brights full shade with no direct sunlight. Maybe. Just maybe that may lengthen the whites. The reason I say this is because of my Little Lime. Paniculatas Limelight and Little Lime have blooms that start green then turn white, a shade of pink and eventually end brown. My LL is located in bright, full shade so it never gets direct sun. As a result, I have noticed that the blooms stay green for a very, very long time. If Limelight is exposed to full sun conditions, the blooms turn white faster. But my LL did not get a-n-y whites the last two years (or maybe they appeared near the end of the Fall and I did not notice). My LL blooms went from green directly to a shade of pink. This year it seems to be going in the "same trajectory". The blooms opened in late June and, as of today, they remain green. So, I wonder if -maybe- VS blooms may stay white longer if not exposed to direct sunlight. You could try that and see what happens. Or maybe someone who already has VS in bright but full shade can chime in with their observations of how long it stays white under those conditions..

It has been rough here :-( But worse in other parts of the state. There are fields of corn that are looking as if it is mid-oct- BUT- the ears are tiny and the plants much shorter. It is just all dried up. Beans are fairing much better. Lawns around here have been brown until about a week ago. Had I not religiously watered all of my 300+ new perennials- I am sure they would all be dead. Many others around here who have established gardens but didn't water, have basically done a lot of fall cleanup already- as many plants just dried up and died. Even many hostas, which are hard for the most part to get stressed, are a big blur of brown. There have also been a lot of leaves dropped, not necessarily changed color- but just dried up :( We are very grateful the temps have dropped down into the 80's and low 90's. It is amazing to me how my plants have taken off since the temps have went down. Even the "full" sun plants do not appreciate the weeks of 100 plus temps- even though I kept them watered. Its great to see things that were merely surviving, thriving!!!!!

Jodi, The Nikko blue and Parzifal hydrangea are both "macrophylla" types. They bloom on the second year's growth and so should bloom next season if you can get them through the winter since both are zone 5 plants. It is important to protect the flowering buds (which are already on this year's stem) from being killed by the harsh winter. I would suggest that you protect the stems by insulating them with dry leaves, straw etc to prevent bud damage. The spots on the leaves are common to hydrangea, especially in the fall. The following website link may help you further. Cheers Ian Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea

If the ground is frozen, it is too late to plant. If it is not, grab a shovel. The technical answer is that you get the same amount of root growth from fall planting in six weeks as you get from planting right away in the spring. The practical answer, especially in such a balmy clime as Mass, is that if you can put a shovel in the ground, you can plant. If it's really close to ground freeze, or if the frost thaw cycle in your ares is prone to cause heaving in small plants, put some extra mulch around. And leaves work.