Fungus is very common on Hydrangeas. This time of year, especially. Mostly it's a cosmetic problem. I'd just live with a small amount this time of year. I don't have a lot of experience with fungicides, but if you search google for "hydrangea, diseases, fungus," you can find plenty of suggestions for fungicide treatments. Basically you spray the plant every couple of weeks with some fungicide. Good luck. Hay.

Your flower heads are probably just naturally fading to their "fall" colors (they make wonderful dried flowers for indoor arrangements). I wouldn't recommend overhead watering as it will, as best, cause the flower heads to fill w/water and become very heavy and, at worst, help to provide favorable growing conditions for disease. With ample water, you can probably grow ES in full sun in Manchester but morning sun and afternoon shade during the hottest part of the day would be better. Keep your new shrub well watered right up until the ground freezes if nature doesn't provide.

Terry,the exact time to rebloom is hard to predict and severely affected with newly planted shrubs. Wholesalers made the plant awaken at "the wrong time" so the plant would be blooming as soon as the nursery put it on sale. So, give it more time and do not prune. It may surprise you later on when the temps have gone down. The spots are a common fungal infection called leaf spot or Cercospora Leaf Spot. Usually caused by the presence of the fungi and by overhead watering (manually or by sprinklers). Common "clean sanitary" suggestions: Try to water early in the morning only and water the soil, never the leaves. Clear any plant debris from under the shrub. Do not overwater so the area is not humid. Separate the shrubs from others to improve air flow between plants. Pick up leaves/blooms that fall and throw them in the trash. Do the same when the shrub goes dormant in the fall. Do not add the leaves/blooms to the compost but throw them in the trash instead. Drought and low humidity suppresses the problems until late summer so it is common to see it start to crop up more now. You can cut the most affected leaves if aesthetically unpleasing; not sure if the plant will develop a replacement now or wait until Spring. You can also apply fungicides but since the shrubs are about to go dormant soon anyway, it is tough to decide if you want to buy $$$ the fungicides and use them or not. For effective control with a fungicide, apply it as soon as the leaf spots are detected. So you could apply them now and earlier in the season next season. See below for suggested fungicides. Browse down to where it talks about cercospora leaf spot. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1212/ANR-1212.pdf Luis

To make it less traumatic for the shrubs, I would wait until temps moderate and Fall temps arrive. You can do it then or before leaf out in Spring. But choose the spot now that sunlight is very close to what it usually is at the start of summer. In the Spring, the sun will be lower, at a different angle.