This is the picture of the hydrangea that I am having the browning leaves and drying. Image link:

Hi Fremar - I just today responded to a ? asked by someone from z7b to compare F&E to ES etc. I got 2 F&E in '06 - to add to observations (1st year does not count, since we now, all know the doses of hormones, to force blooms, for sale purposes) 2nd yr only produced 2 blossoms (ES as well) ... I was a bit disappointed (but was educated on a season needed for root development, in the new home, in the ground along w/ some sun as factors. The 3rd was a charm, a banner year indeed - worth the wait!!! ;) I did have to move one F&E to a partial/sun last Fall, to get those 8"x10" blossoms this June! Patience & TLC as Luis suggested - you'll perhaps not have to wait as long as I did (I'll use cottonseed meal in Spring '09). Best of luck!

Al, love your pun "Forever & Ever to bloom"! Imagine that's no fun for you, but thanks for the chuckle. F & E's new for me this year. After last Winter's dieback to roots of existing plants, hydrangeas with new & old wood blooming potential caught my attention in a Big Way. Not yet a fair trial as all still in pots (some graduated to larger ones) & only here since May, so preliminary reports from central Virginia in order of heaviest bloom: Pistachio - bought as 3-gallons in bud & bloom with many wooded stems - very high flower count, cranking out new blooms continually while still holding the originals (no deadheading) on lengthening old & new growth branches at every node. Heat didn't slow it down, another crop of blooms opened a few days ago & more new buds swelling. Looks like a child's drawing of a flowering bush, covered in flowers. Fantasia - bought as 1-gallon & soon after two more 3-gallons all in bud & bloom.- not as loaded nor consistent as Pistachio, but regularly cycling out new blooms on new growth while keeping the originals. Even the younger plant keeps opening new blooms reliably. Together - bought as 3-gallon in bud & bloom, kept its original flowers for 3 months till clipped all but one to dry & preserve & to see if doing so would prompt new flowers. One left still fresh & pretty & new buds appearing now 3 weeks later. This plant appears to have put most of its energy into growing considerably larger. Originally 18" high & wide, it's now 3'x4', close to its projected mature size. Hoping next year it will concentrate on blooming as abundantly as it's grown! Like it so much, picked up 2 more gallons recently in bud & bloom before this one started showing new flower buds. Blue Heaven - bought as 1-gallon in bud & bloom, this caught my eye for the various individual colors of each bloom - some pink, some blue, some lavender - in contrast to other examples with monotone blooms. Have wondered if it may have been mislabeled - time will tell. It grew quickly, soon potted up to 3-gallon where it's continued to grow luxuriantly. Like Together, its mature size is given as 3'x4' or larger, and this one seems in an equal hurry to get there. It's proven the most sun-sensitive, as others have noted. Clipped its blooms same time as Together's, to see if that would stimulate new blooms & since they were at a beautiful turquoise & slate blues stage that happily dried perfectly in a basket. Just this week showing new buds, so the potential for further bloom is there even in a young & rapidly growing example. Again, hoping it will settle down next season in the growth department & direct its focus into more abundant blooms. (Keeping an eye out for Peace, originally bypassed as white for more colorful examples. Springwood & others report it pinks up nicely, which would be welcome here.) Please strongly consider protecting the perimeter against future weed-whacker incidents! Roots of your previously mown hydrangeas should eventually put out new growth. This post was edited by vasue on Mon, Aug 25, 14 at 19:43

I have several Endless Summers. Similar to the "Forever and Ever" line. I don't really fertilize mine. But, compost is always a good fertilizer. It will need quite a bit of shade. I have mine planted on the east side of my house, and even several years after being in the ground I get the heat stress wilt on really hot days. As I understand it, they bloom on new and old growth which makes them more versatile than the standard types (Nikko, ect, which bloom on old wood.) Even if they get frozen too much in winter, they will put out new growth with blooms. You probably don't have as much issue with that, you are slightly warmer than I am.