All things being equal, yes, they should survive. The root system will not be affected and that will let them survive. You could always wait until they bloom and a week or two later prune them. Consider transplanting it to another spot long term as this pruning will become yet another chore you have to do every "x" number of years. A dwarf oakleaf in that spot may be worth thinking of too. Funny story: I saw someone once who had one planted in the wrong location. As the plant grew larger, the oakleaf got in the way of people who took a tour of her garden. When I participated on one of these tours, she had placed chicken wire fence around the oakleaf real upclose tight to force all growth higher up. Looked weird to me; said she was going to prune it in the summer.

I agree completely with mxk..Annabelle would be my pick for your location...super hardy, bloom on new woods, never fail in blooms, huge showy flowers, right amount of sun, you can practically cut Annabelle down to a 3-5 inches of stems and will grow back to 3 ft in one season and bloom..as for quick fire, I have one in the garden, i like it but it is a giant...and a very fast grower (and I have annabelles to compare)..I put this plant in the sunniest spot for all my hydrangeas, get about 5 hrs of sun (9 am to 2 pm) then cast over by some shade from a nearby building...dont have problems with flower production..my QF is almost 7 feet tall and 5 ft wide...it takes a LOT of space...you will never find the ES and other mopheads this big and can tolerate that much sun...Annabelles can get really big but if you cut it down every season, you can keep it at 4X4 or so...I think a zone 5, with NE winter exposure is tough even for ES to winterize - a lot of flower buds will die from winter burn...and in spring, the plant maynot get enough sunlight to bloom if the location has only 2-3 hrs of sun..would go for Annabelle for sure...and yes, there are two exciting new Annabelles to release in the mkt by 2010...the incrediball and the invicibelle...incrediball is supposed to have enormous flower head (size of a basketball)...and invicibelle will have smaller flower heads and bloom in pink...all annabelles, up to now, are white...so i think you will have a lot of options coming 2010..keep an eye on these plants when to come to a garden center near you.

I'd say YES. I have been more successful rooting in very early and late spring rather than the middle of the spring. I'm beginning to believe that keeping the leaves moist is more important than the medium moist. Also, I do better with cutting down the very end of the tips. Good Luck to you!

I think all the Hydrangeas would be easy to propagate from cuttings. But I've only taken cuttings from the Macrophyllas and Serratas. Nantucket Hydrangea has a page about cuttings that's useful I think. I just took some cuttings and I do spritz them more than just a "couple times" a day like I said. I walk by there all day and it ends up being at least three times a day for a while and then I back off. Pretty much like this page says "You will have to chose what works for you. I've had success in a very shady, protected (wind will dry them out as well as sun) corner of the garden where I misted them only once or twice a week after the first few days. I recommend misting at least three times a day for the first week as long as they are not in direct sun or wind. More is better if you are around because then you can keep them in a bit more sun." Good luck to you. Hay