GardenGal I owe you an apology for doubting you when I was convinced it was a hydrangea! After you said that I looked it up and really really investigated and figured out you are right. It was getting dark last night when I first really started looking and took that last pic and the more I looked today the more I realized it is all the same plant and probably blackberry. I had researched and researched Hydrangeas trying to figure out exactly what kind it was and in my defense the leaves do look a lot similar, especially the really big ones. They are shaped almost the same with the same serrated edges and have a lot of the same characteristics such as both have blooms that grow on the branches from the year before. I did know that something just didn't seen quite right though because the leaves are all in groups of three and I couldn't find any pics of hydrangeas like that and my grannys isn't like that when I looked last weekend. I just cant imagine what happened. I took a piece straight from my grannys plant and put it there. I was just at her house this past weekend and cleaning up around hers and I noticed that hers looked a different but still quite similar in the leaves themselves but not the groupings (3-5-7-etc). Only thing I can think is maybe the transplant didn't survive and there just happened to be a blackberry growing in that same spot (like I said I planted it when we first bought the house) or the blackberry killed out the hydrangea. Regardless I am just gonna see what the blackberry does this year and then probably dig it up...at least I will have some berries Lol. I also went today and bought a Hydrangea...big and fluffy and Pink!!! :) Thanks for your help...this has been a funny adventure and I feel kinda silly but I learned something so that's all that matters. I am planting my 20x20 veggie garden tomorrow....but I know my veggies, just not so much flowers Lol!

I'd like to take a stab at the +1? DK what Hydrangea your 4y/o is but I have a couple that produced as usual but as the season proceeded tons of canes shot up & practically left all the blossomed ones in the dust ... so to speak. A good sign of growth & maturing efforts, I think. Both of my specimens are Lacecaps (H serratas). I have a Kyushu tree form -white & turns to a hint of pink in the Fall & finally the famous *dirty-socks-look!* Find a Quick Fire in tree form, she'll perhaps fill the bill! Knowing your Zone might help w/ other cultivar. Good luck! Â;) 'Hope this helps.

Samantha I don't think if you should water more often (I suggested: ...don't rush watering more often...). While keeping them too dry is not advised, underwatered plants usually recover easier than overwatered. They could be dying off because of the condition plant was in before you got it, I was just thinking that plant may have recovered in 4 months. New leaves look quite good. Checking the soil deep inside of pot would help. You can use bamboo skewer or chopstick, insert deep (at least 3/4 deep) into soil and leave there for few minutes. When you pull it out and it is dry & clean, time to water. If it comes out cold and damp and may have some small particles sticking to it, do not water - there is still enough moisture. IMO, I would not put more soil around the stem - there is better air circulation around it this way. I would wait until I was sure there isn't any problem. Eventually, you could put some grit or small stones on surface if you don't want to see the stem.

I grow Pinky Winky, and find the pink stage isn’t as nice or as long lasting as the pink stage for other panicled hydrangeas. It tend to progress to a rusty red in September for me. I am also not certain that in your hotter, drier area the pink color will develop at all well based on comments from other posters here about pink color development in various cultivars of panicled hydrangeas in warmer zones. So in your situation I would go for Limelight, but only if you want a plant that large since they are impossible to control much for size. Limelight will get larger than 8’ in all directions IME. From an early spring pruning they will regrow to almost full size by the time they start blooming and further pruning will reduce bloom. If you don’t want as large a plant as Limelight, choose one of the smaller types, several of which are listed by ckerr007.