Thanks, Luis. I never buy garden plants from the grocery store, but was so smitten by the lovely flower form and the white eye of this hydrangea. And of course, the color. And I figured the grower was acidifying the soil to some degree, so I went back to Trader Joe's to check on more of this variety. They apparently had just gotten in another large delivery. Sure enough, 'Oslos' in every shade of blue to pink, so they were simply messing around with the soil pH, but good to know this is a variety that WILL blue up. I also had a very nice chat with the grower as well. She assured me it will do well outside - her yard is full of them and she lives up in N. California, so climate is not too terribly different as far as hydrangeas go. Plus, my hydrangeas (Incrediball and possibly an Annabelle, was here when I moved in) do very well here, as do everyone else's hydrangeas as long as they're given afternoon shade (east or north exposure). My soil is 6.2 to about 6.7, we're a bit on the alkaline side, so my hydrangeas are pink (I'm a Master Gardener). I remember when I was little growing up in Vancouver, BC, my grandmother had the most gorgeous and huge hydrangea bushes that were full of lovely blue, blue flowers, due to their much more acidic soil. For us, actually, using aluminum sulfate works better to blue up those hydrangeas that will turn blue. Usually, folks will plant Nikko Blue here, and then treat with aluminum sulfate. You can acidify the soil with soil sulfur, but you still need to apply aluminum sulfate to get them to turn blue. Otherwise, you end up with the color I picked up, sort of a violet :-) So, I'll probably never get these to be blue, but I'll experiment a bit to see if I can at least get them to a pretty violet. Thanks for the tips, hoping more to see if anyone has grown this new variety, and how they do in the garden. My Annabelle tends to develop mildew in the location I'm going to be planting these 'Oslo' hydrangeas, the Incrediball is still lovely and full of blooms. I think I'm going to yank out the Annabelle, pick up 3 my Incrediballs, and plant both the Anabells and the Oslos along the back side of the house where they do so well. Patty S.

Glad to be of help. :) I (just) bought all three of those Everlastings in Spring 2013, and purposely stuck them in different places to test hardiness (pot, foundation, and outlying north-facing bed). They all started at about 18" at purchase. The Revolution is by far the most compact, staying at about that size. The others grew to about 24" (Opal) and 30" (Harmony). But being first year forced plants, that growth wasn't entirely accurate as they were already budded by May. Seeing as how the winter was tough on everything, I haven't been able to conclude anything new, as there hasn't yet been green stuff on ANY branches of ANY H. mac, just the first 3" of stem. Even now, things like old deciduous trees are just starting to leaf out, so that tells you how much of a delay things are running on. But yes, these new plants quickly integrate very well into any landscape. I plan on getting a couple more breeds of these when and where available for a good price. The rest I plan to stick in front of a row of slightly taller shrubs (Annabelle and Nikko) in staggered fashion. The color-changing aspects and long-lasting blooms were 100% as advertised last year on all three. Just yesterday, I picked up an Amethyst 1.5 gallon for $17 at a local hardware store that has a keen knack for ordering new releases (they also had 2-gallon Bloomstrucks for $19).

Podocarpus macrophyllus var. maki Siebold & Zucc., Abh. Math.-Phys. Cl. Königl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. 4(3): 232 (1846).This name is accepted.Distribution:S. China to N. Myanmar, Taiwan, SC. & S. Japan 36 CHC CHS 38 JAP TAI 41 MYA (81) lee pueLifeform:Phan.Family:PodocarpaceaeOriginal Compiler: R.Govaerts Homotypic Synonyms: Podocarpus maki (Siebold & Zucc.) Pickering, Chron. Hist. Pl.: 631 (1879), nom. inval. Podocarpus macrophyllus subsp. maki (Siebold & Zucc.) Pilg. in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 5: 80 (1903). Nageia macrophylla var. maki (Siebold & Zucc.) Voss, Mitt. Deutsch. Dendrol. Ges. 16: 90 (1907). Margbensonia maki (Siebold & Zucc.) A.V.Bobrov & Melikyan, Byull. Moskovsk. Obshch. Isp. Prir., Otd. Biol., n.s., 103(1): 60 (1998).Heterotypic Synonyms: Taxus chinensis Roxb., Hort. Bengal.: 73 (1814), nom. nud. Juniperus chinensis Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. 1832, 3: 840 (1832), nom. illeg. Podocarpus chinensis Wall. ex Benn., Pl. Jav. Rar. 1: 39 (1838). Podocarpus makoyi Blume, Rumphia 3: 215 (1847 publ. 1849). Podocarpus japonicus Siebold ex Endl., Syn. Conif.: 217 (1847). Podocarpus lanceolata Gordon, Pinetum: 275 (1858), nom. inval. Podocarpus corrugatus Gordon, Pinetum, Suppl.: 88 (1862). Podocarpus flagelliformis Carrière, Traité Gén. Conif., ed. 2: 666 (1867). Podocarpus miquelia Parl. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 16(2): 516 (1868), nom. inval. Podocarpus macrophyllus var. chinensis (Wall. ex Benn.) Maxim., Mélanges Biol. Bull. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg 7: 562 (1870). Podocarpus appressus Maxim., Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg, sér. 3, 15: 379 (1871). Podocarpus chinensis var. argenteus Gordon, Pinetum, ed. 2(Suppl.): 88 (1875). Podocarpus chinensis var. aureus Gordon, Pinetum, ed. 2(Suppl.): 88 (1875). Nageia appressa (Maxim.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 800 (1891). Nageia chinensis (Wall. ex Benn.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 800 (1891). Nageia corrugata (Gordon) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 800 (1891). Nageia flagelliformis (Carrière) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 800 (1891). Nageia japonica (Siebold ex Endl.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 800 (1891), nom. illeg. Podocarpus chinensis var. appressus (Maxim.) Matsum., Shokubutsu Mai-i: 223 (1895). Podocarpus macrophyllus var. appressus (Maxim.) Matsum., Index Pl. Jap. 2(1): 16 (1905). Podocarpus chinensis var. wardii de Laub. & Silba, Phytologia 65: 331 (1988). Margbensonia chinensis (Wall. ex Benn.) A.V.Bobrov & Melikyan, Byull. Moskovsk. Obshch. Isp. Prir., Otd. Biol., n.s., 103(1): 59 (1998). Podocarpus chinensis subsp. wardii (de Laub. & Silba) Silba, J. Int. Conifer Preserv. Soc. 17: 9 (2010).

Here in MN I have found Can Do to be less sun tolerant/heat than some other selections but seems to bloom ok after being killed back by winter. The leaves curl over and turn red in August. Pop Star went through in ground trials in MN so I’d expect good performance in areas where they regularly dieback in winter