Sorry we are zone 7+, but would encourage you to give it a chance. Does well in sunny and shady areas out here. Unless you have humus soil, I would go part sun for location, or make a deep compost rich bed as we did (50% Cedar Grove compost to 2' deep). I was not that impressed with TnS in the nurseries, but Oh My God when we planted it in a bright partial sun prepared bed spot! One of the first hydrangeas to bloom for us. Covered with flowerheads and keeps blasting them out. We cut them all off for a Wedding flower request The plant immediately put on 8" of growth within 4 weeks, and is working on becoming completely covered again. Most other hydrangeas have slowed and this beauty is trying to burst out over the whole plant again for a late October show! The past prime flowers also take on interesting lighter colors and dry well with good flower form for dry floral arrangement. So it is very useful. The compact habit and high flower production make it perfect for a foreground display. It also is easy changed from a nice deep pink color to periwinkle blue with adjusting soil pH (purple seems hard to get with it). I was skeptical about the hype, but this workhorse has earned a spot by the front door entrance, where it can knock socks off! Only downside is that I have not got to see the outer floral petals twist down yet. It did not happen on tbe Spring flower flush. And Family has since discoveted it kept cutting flowers for work desk displays, so flowerheads can not age in the fall.

Hello, Margie. A picture of the leaves would help determine clearly what you are seeing so see if any of my suggestions can help you identify the cause of the problem... In the summer months, yellow leaves can be caused by watering issues (watering too much such that the roots cannot absorb much oxygen) so you need to get watering under control. You can use a soil moisture meter for this or you could just insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" to see if the soil feels dry or almost dry. If it does feel dry-ish then give the soil around the shrub 1.5 gallons of water (you can go down to 1 gallon in Spring, Fall and Winter). Also, try maintaining 3-4" of organic mulch to help with this issue as the mulch will minimize soil moisture evaporation somewhat. But, yes, leaf yellowing in the summer can also be caused by too much sun. If the plant is getting too much sun, only the leaves in direct contact with the sun will turn yellow (the ones underneath and protected from the sun will remain green). This gives the shrub an odd look. If this is what you see then you may need to temporarily protect it thru the end of summer and then decide if you want to transplant it to a more shaded location. 30% shade cloth can be used. But feel free to construct anything that will provide shade (if this is the cause of the problem of course). There are mineral deficiencies that can also cause yellowing of leaves. If the soil lacks nitrogen, the old leaves can start turning yellow. A cheap soil test kit that checks levels of NPK or a full-fledged soil test can help determine if you have this problem. The cheap soil test kits are available at plant nurseries. I feel that these gizmos are not quite exact but hey, all you care to know is if the minerals are too low or too high so in case like this, I do not worry about how precise they are and I just try to find out if N is low. Near the end of the summer for me, there is the infamous iron chlorosis; but you really can have this issue at any time in the growing season. Iron chlorosis causes the leaves to yellow out but the leaf veins remain dark green. So if the leaves are all yellow, this is not your problem. Adding acidifying compounds corrects iron chlorosis. You can use aluminum sulfate, garden Sulphur, greensand, etc. You can also use liquid chelated iron compounds. The liquids deliver faster results but the others last longer. Either way, the leaves take a while to self correct. A soil pH kit can be used to regularly monitor this problem (say, every 2 months or so) and these kits can be purchased at most plant nurseries. The red tinges may be the result of the leaves getting old or about to get a few leaf spots (a few is not a big issue). Water the soil and never the leaves. Then monitor the spots for changes and post again if you think there is a large problem with the leaves with red tinges. Luis

wade is old school ... pick up the phone and call ... during the week.. and during business hours ... name shopping can be very hard ... you might also try jims hosta ... seriously.. old school .. most suppliers are not big corporations.. many one or two man operations... and keep in mind.. to list it in a catalog.. they need dozens ... so a phone call.. might find that one or two.. laying around ... who knows... ken ps: i wouldnt even rely on email .;... old school ... http://www.jimshostas.com/

Oh, yeah, probably does not like the afternoon sun so so sun protection is fine but temps may stil make it wilt. Mine complain as the afternoon progresses and we get to 100. But also check these other problem areas: It may be plain ole hot and mopheads and lacecaps tend to do this during the worst of the summer. Something that blocks the hot sun can certainly help but if it is hot, well, they can also wilt in the shade so do not be too surprised. Temps above the mid 90s start to trigger this over here. Once they have an extensive root system and transplant shock has been minimized, these episodes will occur less often. You may not be watering enough. Try watering 1.5 gallons when a finger inserted to a depth of 4" feels dry or almost dry. Perhaps test this way daily for 2-3 weeks early in the morning and make notes of when do you water in a wall calendar. After 2-3 weeks, see how often you water: say, every 2/3/4days. Then set your sprinkler to water 1.5 gallons every 2/3/4/days. Usually, 1 gallon is good enough for newly purchased shrubs but I increase it during the summer to 1.5g, reduce it back to 1g when summer temps moderate in the Fall and shrink it more once the plant goes dormant. Stop watering completely if the soil freezes. You may not have mulch or enough mulch. Try mulching 2-4" up to the drip line or up to wherever you think the roots reach up to. It may be windy which "encourages" these wilting episodes. You could water the night before a windy day in anticipation of problems. If you have drip irrigation, choose one day to water by hand. Drip does not get the tiny roots in the top 4" of the soil moist long enough. When we start to hit daily 100s, I do an extra watering this way to get them happy. That plus drip regular watering lasts me a week or so. Locations that provide shade starting around 11am-12pm are best for lacecaps and mopheads but, transplanting in the middle of the summer is not good so I would wait until Fall. Afternoon sun locations are usually problematic. Plants that I moved several long years ago in the summer, threw hissy fit wilting episodes for a long time and I decided that I would not do it again in the summer. But if you decide to do it now, try to get as much of the rootball intact and the small roots that grow in the top 4". Wilting episodes normally self correct -if the soil is moist- at night and by next morning. If they do not, check with the finger method to confirm that the soil is dry and then water it 1.5 gallons.