I, too, had issues with dogs using my hydrangea as a personal urinal. Now I put rocks around them in such a way it makes it uncomfortable for them to stand close enough to do their business. They do still lift and go but I think it keeps it far enough away from the root ball, however. Not sure if you remember my post about "the comeback kid" last year about one hydrangea. Now I can't offer much advice but I tend to agree that location is important. I have an Anabelle, Bella Anna, a paniculata who's name escapes me and 2 Endless summers. Both ES were in an unsheltered spot and are barely coming back from the root ball (since moved one). My Bella Anna and paniculata are both somewhat sheltered are starting to leaf out. Unfortunately the Anabelle was defoliated by a 4 legged slug mid Sept and it isn't showing any life yet (neither are the 3 dogwoods and maple tree that were hit) The other thing I did wrong last year was I fertilized them with a product like osomocote that provides nutrition all summer. After doing that I only got 2 blooms on one plant. I heard not to fertilize them much if at all but thought I knew better :) Since I am an odd person I will also agree that things are better planted odd. SCG

H. quercifolia is somewhat challenging plant for z5. The most of the problems will occur in a first few years. Once established it will be relatively trouble free plant, though not a reliable bloomer. After all it's a z7-8 (NC, GA) native plant. First, it need 2-3 years in ground to become fully established. Being technically root hardy to z5 it still need very thick layer of mulch and burlap wraping in a first couple of winters. Spring/early summer planting is highly recommended for z5-6. Second, of all hydrangeas, young oakleaves are the most succeptible to root rot while still can't stand drought. Therefore, one have to find PROPER watering regimen to satisfy this requirement. Again, thick layer of mulch could be handy. Third, it blooms on old wood and you are back to square one for winter protection as you would be with the most of macrophyllas. Winter protection ala 'hayseedman' for quercifolias will be not only questionable due to the rangy pattern of growth, but most likely will be impossible for the most of them due to their sizes, assuming they'll not die back every other year. 'Alice' in particular, is one of the largest h.q. and could easily reach 8x8' in just 3 years and 12x12' in 5 years if no dieback. IMO, dwarf cultivars, such as Pee Wee or Sike's Dwarf (both look identical to me anyway) are the only quercifolias that could be/should be attempted to grow in solid z5 on condition that grower is determined and will put reasonable effort to protect them. Fourth, indeed, fall foliage of oakleaves is a site to behold. However, in order to develop fall color it should be grown in a considerable sun, say 3-4 hours, and here you'll have another contradiction. Location with 3-4 hours of tentatively morning sun in a summer most likely will become a 6-8-10 hours of sun in a winter and such exposure most definitely will dry flower buds or even the whole branches by the spring, thus you'll have a huge non-blooming plant in a best case scenario. Sorry for the doom and gloom, but that is how I see it. Re: 'Blue Billow'. It wasn't me who touted it, but Hayseedman reported that it blooms RELIABLY for him in z6 WITHOUT any protection. In my z6b garden I don't protect any hydrangeas except trying to chose location wisely, and indeed B.Billow bloomed for me the last three years on a row, including very cold winter of 2003/04.

@luis_pr Thank you so very much for the info! I have seen people plant ES on the ground in the spring and dig up and put in a pot and bring inside for the winter. For me, it is almost not possible. 1, the plants are very big now, 3 ft wide and tall, as I bought the 4 gallon ones in the spring. oh well. 2, too much trouble for me and too much shock for the plant. 3, i dont have indoor space and big enough window to give them the light to keep them happy insdie. Artificial light is too much set up again. SO after some search, i will be use the cardboard box method, i think. Here are tentative steps: please help me better this process if something wrong in the procedure lol. Zone 3/4, Edmonton 1) After tree leaves fall, collect leaves in plastic bags. 2) When ES hydrangea leaves are brown and dried, covered them with a cardboard box, fill in dried leaves. 3) Tape the top of the cardboard box, to seal. 4) Secure the bottom with rocks or garden staples. 5) Wrap the box with brown burlap. 6) Wrap again the box with black landscape fabric, to absorb warmth from the sun. 7) Sit for the winter to be over, hopefully lots of snow cover. 8) Remove protection around last spring frost, on May 15 ish. 9) If Frost come back after the fact. using white drop cloth for temporary cover. I also attached a pic of my blue ES (the original) in my yard this year. Isn't this blue out of this world!

Correcting iron chlorosis is a process that is slower than watching paint dry so expect to have to wait several week for improvements. I normally see leaf improvements starting in close to 2 weeks and the changes happen faster when I use liquids (iron-chelated liquid compounds) instead of granular amendments. Iron chlorosis starts with light green leaves that turn yellow or even white, all the while staying dark green around the leaf veins. But other mineral deficiencies can have similar symptoms. If you notice no improvements after -say- two week or two and a half weeks, there may be another mineral that is low or there may be damage to the roots that produces the chlorosis. After no improvements in that time frame, I would check the roots, get a soil test/analysis done asap and add some fertilizer (which you already added this as compost) with lots of secondary minerals (other than the usual NPK) to see if that helps. Over-watering can also sometimes trigger chlorosis when it rains a lot very quickly in places that do not drain very well. It too goes away slowly. Unclear what the roots issue may be without a few pictures but -just a comment- some hydrangeas develop adventitious roots near the surface. I cannot see what you see but, I usually cover them with mulch and let them be (they will eventually dry out). If some pest however, is injuring the hydrangea roots then you need to cover and protect the roots and take appropriate action to identify and block the pest in your garden. Surprising -in a good way- that the plant is growing and still blooming fine if the roots are disturbed!