Claudia,

How tall is the plant? Forever Pink is a dwarf that usually stays around 2 ft tall and wide. Your plant looks (from what I can tell from the pictures) to be of a larger scale. Looks like it could also be Alpengluhen or Glowing Embers. Can you post a picture of the entire plant? It is very difficult, if not impossible to tell some varieties apart. You are lucky in that at least the heavily pigmented pink narrows it down a little bit. Off of the top of my head, I can't think of any dark pinks (reds) that grow beyond 4 ft or so. At least that should help with placement.

Even if you can't pinpoint the exact cultivar, it is definitely a macrophylla type hydrangea and they all pretty much require the same care. Morning sun/afternoon shade or all day dappled sun/shade. Always moist but not wet soil. Don't prune at all except to remove dead wood or flower heads. Check out hydrangeashydrangeas.com for a good overall primer in laymen terms.

Enjoy it, whatever it is......yg

Hi yg:
Thanks for quick reply...maybe these 2 photos will help you a bit more. As far as the height, I mentioned that I really cut this plant back when I got it. It probably was about 3ft tall. I then cut back to about 8-inches in the late fall. As you can see in my photo, it's back up to 3ft again. I do hope it is a dwarf variety and doesn't get much bigger.

Claudia

{{gwi:1000387}}

{{gwi:1000388}}

CFB-I'm not sure of the cultivar, but I wanted to ask you how you over wintered this in the garage. Did you just put it in the pot, prune it, then sit in a dark spot? Did you water it at all? Every time I try to over winter (inside)mine either die, or it comes back a little spindly thing-nothing like your pics! Any details on your technique would be much appreciated. Wow, that elderly lady sure was given a big "houseplant" Had she planted it outside, is that why you got it in a trash bag? Poor plant!

?merritt supreme?

Just remembered?Is it called www.joycreek.com
? They have photos of all their hydrangea. Only had one cup of coffee so far. My mind isnt totaly in gear.check it out. they have all sorts of theats for good little boys and girls

I'm sticking with Glowing Embers/Alpengluhen.......yg

yg / Mimi / Janice:
Thank you for input & Janice I'll tell you what I did to keep this plant alive over the winter, but first:

1) I agree with you yg, I do believe what I've got is Glowing Embers/Alpengluhen. I've gone to umpteen sites to verify & it sure looks like you're correct :-)

2) Thanks Mimi for taking a stab at helping me ID this.

3) Janice: You're probably going to not believe this, since you say you've had no success over-wintering your hydrangea...but here's the whole story--maybe more than you want to know...lol

The lady took the plant out of it's pot because it was too heavy for her to transport to my house--I also got the rest of the dirt in another trash bag & the big plastic pot it had been living in. She lives in an apartment so she had no intention of planting it outside.

Now, this will probably really "bug" you...I left the plant in the trash bag for I can't remember how many weeks and the darn thing looked just fine. I thought it was a hibiscus plant, and though I've nothing against them, I wasn't even sure I wanted to keep the plant. So...there it sat for weeks in the bag.

Every now and then I poured some water over the dirt/root ball.

I finally felt guilty of how I was treating it, and JAMMED it into a container I had close by--the same container you see in my photo above. It sat in the garage and only ocassionally did I water it.

This plant must be a wonderfully hardy cultivar because it was starting to throw out buds in February--and it was still in the dark garage!

I have been wrestling with whether to put it into a nicer & larger container (I'm becoming very addicted to container gardening and beautiful looking containers), or to put it in the ground. But I'd better make my mind up very soon as our weather is getting hotter each day and I know this plant can't stay cramped like this much longer. (I'm watering it twice a day now as it is.)

There...that's my secret Janice . Maybe you've just been trying to over-winter less hardy varieties. I see you're in Zone 7, so your temps certainly are quite similar to mine year round.

Claudia
P.S. I LOVE this plant :-)

How about Brunette?
Mary

Claudia-I am going to try your method (sort of) this winter. I am going to buy a "florist" hydrangea later this summer and set it out it in my garage in late fall with only occasional water. My garage has some light from a window, so I am going to find the darkest corner. Wish me luck!
Janice