Speaking of rooted cuttings...last year I bought 2 Pinky Winkies that were basically rooted cuttings. They were small sticks w/a few roots. I bought them from Lowes bc they were only 15$ each. This year they are already up to my chest-full beautiful shrubs. I planted them last June! The problem is my Pinky Winkies are actually Quickfires! They look great though. I bought 2 other PWies that I think are turning out to be Little Lambs (they have pink stems but are staying shorter and the bloom last year looked more like LL). And 1 of my larger Quickfires I bought from a good nursery doesn't have any buds yet despite all my other QFers budding up already so I'm waiting to see what that one actually is. Mislabeled plants are so annoying yet seems to happen often!

I've been using both ABS and PVC for over 25 years and in different places across the US, each with different rules and regulations, most of which is not based in solid science. ABS hands down beats PVC in direct sun and also under homes in indirect sunlight. In Hawaii, PVC becomes brittle within a year. It pits, shatters, cracks and crumbles. ABS doesn't do any of that. As an inspector I see this every day. An ABS roof vent pipe can last 15 years in heat and sun without being painted. ABS is more expensive than PVC. While ABS is not used for water pipe, PVC and not CPVC is still being used as water supply in Hawaii. Both should be outlawed as toxic for water. Sched. 80 PVC fairs much better than Sched. 40. Sched. 80 is grey and a bit softer. Yes about the primer purple for inspections. On Farms and ranches you can see crumbled remains of long runs of original PVC, right next to newer and flexible and safer HDPE tubing. If one looks close at larger diameter ABS, you can sometimes see its "foam" core. Like one comment said - If you hit ABS with a hammer, it's unlikely you'll break it, but try that with PVC and it will break easily - shatter even. Once a plumber from Australia told me that some places banned ABS because of the gases released when it burns in a house fire or when it's cut too fast by plumbers. I'm sure the health of plumbers was not on a politicians mind when banning ABS. ABS will burn continually once it starts, whereas PVC supposedly self extinguishes. Not sure that burning carpet and every other thing in a house fire is any less toxic. But to answer the question - ABS is much more expensive (in Hawaii anyway) than PVC. And maybe in the end its the same because you'll buy and replace 3 to 4 times PVC to 1 time ABS. And seriously, it's just plain greed when a 3" ABS cap fitting that used to cost 2-5 dollars is now over $20 in 2024.

"Just wait until you have to pack up all that crap and move it." My SIL just bought a retirement home so they are decluttering their current house as a preparation for selling it--she keeps telling me she can't believe how much STUFF she's got to get rid of. When I go to their house I always admire how it looks nicely organized and without extraneous things all over. However, I also admire her tons of closets and storage space which she says leads to keeping, you guessed it, all that stuff LOL. I've decided I will play a mental game this summer and pretend we have to move; maybe that will be my motivation to get rid of much unnecessary and unused stuff in our house! I use the holidays and shopping for gifts to satisfy any yen I may have to be a retail hunter/gatherer. The past few years I increasingly feel as if I am gorging myself after staying on a careful and healthy diet; by the time January comes I feel so psychically bloated from all the shopping /buying that I need another year to rest up and recover! It's interesting to me to watch my young adult daughter who is setting up her first home. She loveslovesloves Home Goods, Marshalls, Pier 1 etc. And when I go with her I usually find stuff I could easily buy. I have a rule that I can't take anything from those places home the day I see it. That usually short circuits the purchase, I'm rarely motivated enough to fight the traffic and crowds to go back a second time!

One is supposed to be a darker pink than the other but not a true red. As usual and as you suspected, "Plant tolerates a range of soil pH, however, flower color will vary depending on whether soil is acid, neutral or alkaline." That is from the PW website. Thus, I would expect to have to amend with garden lime. https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/hydrangea/tuff-stuff-red-mountain-hydrangea-hydrangea-serrata