I'm in Prince William county VA - I read on the Hardy Palms & Subtrops. Board that someone in NJ had kept this alive. So I tried the plain green form this winter. It was planted in a well-draining, afternoon-sun area, and reasonably mulched (3" of pine mini-nuggets around the crown). It survived. It is growing back now from the roots and lower couple inches which stayed green through the winter. The highly variegated forms ARE NOT as hardy because the plant is weakened by the variegation. BTW the green form seemed pretty heat resistant although last summer wasn't too much of a test. -David

H. quercifolia is somewhat challenging plant for z5. The most of the problems will occur in a first few years. Once established it will be relatively trouble free plant, though not a reliable bloomer. After all it's a z7-8 (NC, GA) native plant. First, it need 2-3 years in ground to become fully established. Being technically root hardy to z5 it still need very thick layer of mulch and burlap wraping in a first couple of winters. Spring/early summer planting is highly recommended for z5-6. Second, of all hydrangeas, young oakleaves are the most succeptible to root rot while still can't stand drought. Therefore, one have to find PROPER watering regimen to satisfy this requirement. Again, thick layer of mulch could be handy. Third, it blooms on old wood and you are back to square one for winter protection as you would be with the most of macrophyllas. Winter protection ala 'hayseedman' for quercifolias will be not only questionable due to the rangy pattern of growth, but most likely will be impossible for the most of them due to their sizes, assuming they'll not die back every other year. 'Alice' in particular, is one of the largest h.q. and could easily reach 8x8' in just 3 years and 12x12' in 5 years if no dieback. IMO, dwarf cultivars, such as Pee Wee or Sike's Dwarf (both look identical to me anyway) are the only quercifolias that could be/should be attempted to grow in solid z5 on condition that grower is determined and will put reasonable effort to protect them. Fourth, indeed, fall foliage of oakleaves is a site to behold. However, in order to develop fall color it should be grown in a considerable sun, say 3-4 hours, and here you'll have another contradiction. Location with 3-4 hours of tentatively morning sun in a summer most likely will become a 6-8-10 hours of sun in a winter and such exposure most definitely will dry flower buds or even the whole branches by the spring, thus you'll have a huge non-blooming plant in a best case scenario. Sorry for the doom and gloom, but that is how I see it. Re: 'Blue Billow'. It wasn't me who touted it, but Hayseedman reported that it blooms RELIABLY for him in z6 WITHOUT any protection. In my z6b garden I don't protect any hydrangeas except trying to chose location wisely, and indeed B.Billow bloomed for me the last three years on a row, including very cold winter of 2003/04.

I planted a smallish Pretoria rhizome from Jung Seed in mid-May, it was advertised 'minimum 1 - 2 eyes'. It has 5 stalks, the largest bloomed for the first time roughly 2 weeks ago, the foliage is 3' tall, the flower stalk is just over 4', and that's somewhat shorter than advertised. It probably takes a couple years to attain the mature size. A couple more shorter stalks will probably bloom sooner or later this year, and the smallest ones are just a foot or so tall. It's definitly a little shaded and crowded by a taller canna, but I don't think they care too much so long as they get adequate water and fertilizer. For a canna, 'adequate' water seems to be daily flooding, particularly in this heat and drought we've been having. I put the cannas against the house 10" apart too, and tucked 4 new roses bushes in between in a new raised bed. The idea was for the cannas to break up and dry the heavy clay until the earthworms could work in the soil amendments. It's a jungle, but it's working, and nothing minds being so over-crowded so long as there's lots of water.

Thanks roselee. I am in 8a Texas. When seeds are ready please get in touch with me. Appreciate it very much. I ran into this plant when looking for spinach alternatives to grow in the TX heat. In addition to Ceylon spinach, Brazilian spinach, this showed up - all succulent and substituted for spinach. Ceylon spinach looks beautiful too, but Jewels of Opar takes the prize! Thanks again.