Some folks say a paniculata is a paniculata but they are by far (IMO) the best plants available to zone 4 & 5 gardeners.

My Tickled Pink is just showing buds.

My Quickfire on the other hand has been blooming for over a week.

I still have to add Little Lime, Lime Light and Vanilla Strawberry!

Pictures !!!!

Oh, and congrats =)

Hydrangeasnohio, what nursery did you get them from?
(I live in OH)
roseberri

Ooooooooooooooh! Hydrangeasnohio, how dare you tease us like this without showing a single picture!? LOL!!! It is NOT allowed!!!!!! LOL!

Which nursery is that? Is that the Dayton Nursery that you mentioned before?

Oh, and what on earth is "Tickled Pink"???

I managed to get a decent size Vanilla Strawberry this year online. No blooms but expect them next year. My Quickfire's have been blooming for several weeks and are starting to go pinkish now, the Limelights have their first blooms for a week now and Tardiva's are just now starting to bloom. I see a bud on a couple Forever and Ever, but I'm really not happy with those anyway. I treat them as perennials but if they die to the ground this year I probably will take them out. They just aren't worth my time since they will never get any decent size on them here.
Cher

Hello Chohio, which Forever and Ever do you have? I do great with the Blue Heaven & Together, but I have had problems so far here with a couple of their others ones also. You can't go wrong with the Endless Summer series either. My problem ones are the Red and Double Pink. Although I am going to give them atleast one more year before I give them final judgement. They all started out as 1 gallon plants. When you start that small sometimes they grow a couple of years before they start to bloom. Endless Summers have been known to act the same way when starting that small.

Roseberri Ostrich is right they came from Dayton Nursery. They are doing so much work around there it is amazing they are able to keep their prices reasonable. Just the other day they just added a huge waterfall out front. Along with they are starting this year to build their 10 acre Botanical/Display Gardens. Right now they have some Linden Trees in their parking lot that their aroma will take your breath away.

Ostrich you are the one who needs to show pictures of your 3 mature Endless Summers!!! But I will give you a pic shortly of my Vanilla Strawberry. Even though she isn't doing much yet. Oh yea, along with pictures of your magical Annabelles that some how do not flop and also rebloom with the Snow Mountain Tree!!! I am so jealous all of of them !!!

Ostrich the Tickled Pink I think is supposed to be a miniature version of the Pink Diamond. Just like the Little Lime is the smaller version now of the Limelight. I have officially ran out of yard. I am digging up hydrangeas I used to winter protect and putting them into pots. Then replacing them with ones that do not require the protection. I am sick of looking at burlap in the spring. I only have one more to find a replacement for, my Light O Day. I am leaning towards a Twist n Shout.

hydrangeasohio I'd have to go check the FE tag in the shed but I believe the originals. I am NOT winter protecting with burlap. LOL Since I now have larger shrubs in between them it doesn't matter if they have to go now as eventually the other shrubs will crowd them some anyway. I've even thought maybe I should move them this fall which of course means they definitely will die back this winter and give them an additional year somewhere.
Cher

My sister decided today to buy 6 of them and is planting them in a 24 foot long line to block her one neighbor's 4 foot tall chain link fence. They will be planted in a solid full sun exposure, so I hope they will be pretty empressive this year. She also bought a little drip irrigation system for them to help them out since obviously it is not the best time of year to plant them. I have all of them sitting at my house right now I will snap a pic of them tomorrow. She better plant them soon or she will come over and they will be planted in the middle of my yard...LOL...
Here is a nice pic I found of the off the nursery's website.

ostrich, how old are your ES?

hydrangeasnohio, I love that pic! Wow! I want one!

Ostrich your Endless Summers are the best I have ever seen!

Well we planted my sister's 6 yesterday. I will get a picture of them shortly. Forgot to take my camera with me, but I took a couple of my lonely one by itself today. I might wait awhile to plant mine. It is also going into a similiar full sun location.

Here is the pic of her 6 Vanilla Strawberries just planted.

Hi I thought to bring this post back up now that we're close to the end of the season & our blooms have matured/turned to expected colors & perhaps even scorched under f/s like my 2010 acquisitions VS & TP.

TP gets my vote betw the 2 = my personal preference for daintier blossoms.

VS(3gal) came directly from Bailey's in-town source nurs ... I suspect a good old-stem cutting a bit more spread out in form. She very quickly budded & flashed - but canes got more arching & had to be supported w/ stakes & nylon hose ... enormous blossoms!!! I wonder if bundling this Fall will improve form ... I don't see thick center canes coming up as leaders.

I wonder how yours have grown?

Will appreciate your review & thoughts after this first season - not so good summer where I am! Â:(

Not a good summer here either Ditas for first year plants in my area either. Summer is very tough on a paniculata it's first year. True test will be next year. My VS was very floppy after it was in full bloom. My sister had more browning out of blooms problem than me this year. I read a five year study on many paniculata including the VS. They stated when it was young or hard pruned it was floppy. They stated for best results only to lightly prune to shape. Although you will not receive as large as blooms.

The picture I put on the thread earlier with the Bailey Nursery people. I think they are holding up the blooms with their hands and letting them lean on them...LOL... Notice you can not see their hands in the picture.

I agree no new strong cane development for mine yet either. I refuse to bundle or support anything. If it can't be done by pruning than I better be able to be happy with the look or it is out of here! LOL.. Although I can tolerate a fair amount of flopping.

The biggest plus for the VS in my opinion is that it keeps reblooming all through the late summer/fall. Mine has started it's second flush of flowers. I bet none of us will have the browning out problem early in the season next year. My worry is the flopping issue again. I think it will become a winner with maturity! Just needs a few years and wasn't quite up to the advertisement. They failed to mention the flopping issue. I bet in years to come many other paniculatas will be developed from the VS.

The Tickled Pink is a winner in my book also. If I had the room I would of got one. But other than being compact it did not have any new qualities over the Pink Diamond, Pinky Winky or Quick Fire that I already have. We will see the Tickled Pink used alot in people's landscape in years to come because of it's immediate results and compact size.

P.S. I love the color of the canes/stems on the VS.

I love the color of this Hydrangea. I've only seen the plant in Europe and the color was as good as the photos. I can't wait to see if the color holds up here. The Bailey website describes it as ...

"A delicious new creation from France. The enormous flower panicles are a blend of vanilla and strawberry, held upright on red stems. They emerge creamy white in mid summer, change to pink and finally to strawberry red. New blooms gives the plant a multicolored effect in late summer and early fall. The red coloration persists for at least 3-4 weeks. The habit is upright becoming cascading later in the season. Comparable to 'Pinky Winky', however the habit is more upright and the red flower color persists longer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bailey Nursery

I have it in a corner spot by the house. Planted in midsummer and bloomed since then. The blooms are enormous! I anticipated the flopping and staked it, which is easy since just one stake behind the plant is needed and some twine so its not obvious.

Thanks for all the positive responses ... I wonder if anyone would post some pix at this point.

Mine are badly scorched as she sits in full sun just beside QF who is a champ. I'll give VS a few years to see how she develops ... hopefully into a stronger more upright beauty as touted by Bailey.

I'm just not as fond of huge & pom-pom type blossoms, the reason T P gets my vote between the 2!

Hope to see your end of Aug Pics ... Many TIA! Â;)

Here is a pic of my VS. Would probably not be so upright if not staked but does have some sturdy stems. Light is not great in this pic