Couple of thoughts.......avoid any overhead watering. When you need to water, do so at the root zone and do so thoroughly. Excessive water on foliage can lead to fungal diseases and leaf spotting. Second, you may have over-amended. Soil conditions radically different from those the plant was grown in can lead to shock. Ideally, if amending is required, it should be done over the largest possible area, never just the planting hole. And never a good idea to fertilize immediately on planting - the plant can't metabolize it. The good news is there is nothing wrong with your plants. The purple-brown coloration is just a reaction to cold, common to many plants, especially if not acclimated to the area or with more foliage than established inground plants may have. The spotting may be just a touch of leaf spot but nothing to get concerned about. Just change your watering methods and pray for warmer weather :-))

1. Small plants will sometimes look like the tree form that you describe. Later on, they send more shoots and achieve the "normal" hydrangea shrub look. I would not worry about that. 2. All large-leafed plants -like hydrangeas- wilt at times. Your plants will wilt quite often during the summer, specially their very first one. Keep an eye on your soil moisture daily and mulch 3-4" past the drip line. When the soil feels dry or almost dry at a depth of 3-4", water. Wilting will not be such an issue in future years, only the first year, when the plant is becoming established. Ignore wilting episodes in which the plant recovers on its own by bedtime or by next morning. If wilting persists by next morning, increase the amount of water being used on a regular basis (decrease it in the fall). Extreme wilting episodes require immediate watering. Watch out for windy days; they will also cause wilting; pay attention to wind advisories for your area. 3. Because they are small young plants, their sticks cannot support much weight yet. Add blossoms and they will bend. In time, the sticks grow older and this problem will fade. If you wish, you can try to locate some wire and use it to prop up the plant during the growing season. I thought I saw some useful wire products at Lowe's a few months ago. Luis

Its interesting when you all describe the size of ES. I was at a lecture this summer with Michael Dirr who comercialized the ES. I have to move mine since it has outgrown its space. When I told him that mine was currently over 5 ft( july 10th) tall, he seemed startled and autographed his book on Hydrangeas with this," Endless Summer sounds too good to be true;A tree? No way! At any rate now I need to transplant it and the question is can I do it in the fall? I don't want to lose it but I keep thinking I might do more damage when the warm weather starts it growing again. I also have to move an Annabelle ( actually give it away) and cannot wait for frost. What are its chances if I cut it back to the ground now instead of waiting for a hard frost that will be a month from now or more

Thanks ginny. These are both QVC specials that, as I said, were originally intended to get pounded into the dirt by load after load of heavy snow falling off of the metal roof. Then, they were going to get crunched by the tractor driving over them to snowblow the piles of ice and snow into the woods. All in all a tough winter existence. Anyway, under those conditions sticks in the spring weren't a consideration. I'll try to find a better home for the hydrangeas. I just moved the wood pile away from the east side of the house (actually the garage/'carriage house'/ or 'barn' as they call it up here) at the end of the extension to the new wood crib on the farmer's porch and ended up with a 25-foot long, three-foot wide patch of bare ground. I tilled it and just planted some roses, a couple of gold splash euonymous, a dwarf mugo pine and some dwarf daylilies. I'll bet I could squeeze in three hydrangeas. Thanks for the sage advice. narcnh