Ego45: Thank you for responding, and sending that gorgeous picture of your Bluebird hydrangea. Lots of the soil in this area is acidic, as it grows beautiful rhodies and Christmas Trees. I also manage to get some beautiful pinks and mixed colored blooms (pink, white, and blue) on other hydrangeas. I have the aluminum powder here to use, as I wanted to see if I could turn any of them purple, so do you think some mix of the aluminum would assist the Bluebird? I love the color you have. What food do you use on your hydrangeas? I just bought some 16-16-16 - so how would you recommend its use? I have some hydrangeas that are 7 feet tall and at least 6 feet wide - some larger and smaller. Thanks you for being here for us.

'Komachi'(a/k/a 'Pretty Maiden') and 'Woodlanders' are both serratas, of course, but are of seperate provenance. 'Komachi' is a Japanese cultivar, whereas 'Woodlanders' is from Korea. It was propagated from seed obtained from S Korea's Chollipo Arboretum, by the owners of Woodlanders, Aiken, SC. I have about 15 different serrata cultivars, including the two above, and haven't determined any difference in bud hardiness among them. The Easter weekend deep freeze last year treated all of them about the same. :All of mine are grown in the shade or part shade, either evergreen or deciduous, with some receiving a few hours of early morning or late afternoon sunlight. One of my 'Woodlanders' receives some late afternoon sun and it develops the best late summer/fall foliage color of any other cultivar. It is one of the original seedlings from the nursery, my first serrata and still my favorite one. Another one that shows outstanding flower color and fall foliage color is an unnamed cuttimg obtained from the late Cristopher Lloyd's garden at Great Dixter, near the South coast of England, but it probably won't ever be introduced. Personally, if given a choice, I would choose 'Woodlanders', rather than 'Komachi', which has not been an outstanding performer for me. I probably should move it around, until it's satisfied with a new home. Rb

Re: serratas vs macs First a disclaimer: I still grow at least 8-10 different macs. Hardiness is not a big issue for me, except after extremely cold winters, but that is not happens very often here. So, I'm not judging them by that parameter even though serratas in general are slightly bud hardier than macs. They will either bloom or not. I don't winter protect them. I don't want to sound snoby, but I'm somewhat tired of look-alike-me-too mopheads that have no distinct difference in habit or flower form. If only hydrangea specialists could tell the difference between them then I see no reason to grow another Nikko-like plant if I already have Nikko. Lacecaps are little bid different story, but again, too many look-alike cultivars on a market, though chosing carefully one could create collection of DISTINCTLY different plants. Contrary, serratas, especially late introductions from Japan could provide you with vast array of colors, shapes and forms of the flowers plus the different habits of the plants. Now I'm coming to the main point of my interest to serratas, leaves. Most of the macs have thick waxy fleshy leaves that tend to be look great in more formal, cultivated gardens, while serratas elongated toothed and in some instances red tinged leaves looks like they are belong to natural setting. Some of them even have an added feature of seasonal leaf color changes. Hey, they are mountain hydrangeas after all, right? We all know how the hydrangeas look in a winter and if bare sticks in a natural mix border look more or less OK, the same in a formal setting look outright ugly, at least to my taste. In my particular case, where I have several substantial size natural shady borders, mopheads that I originally planted there simply looking out of place and I'm slowly removing and substituting them for either serratas or more or less distinct lacecaps. I guess it's a matter of personal preferences and tastes and for sure it worth a separate thread.

Thank you folks, but really the credit is all due to the plant's desire to live, not from any horticultural knack of mine. And to be quite honest it has surprised me too, because I've tried about half dozen other W. A. banksia varieties and most have failed, and yet this is reputed to be the most difficult of them all. Maybe Waite's propagating methods have toughened it. Tric perhaps you're like me, when you have to think of the name of a plant (on this page; someone asks you) your memory simply fails! But what's the name of the $2 tubestock?