I would like to thank you all for replaying to my post, and for your effort in the explanations and examples Amman sits atop seven hills, Amman is located in a hilly area of north-western Jordan, and is at an elevation of 1029 meters above sea level (highest point) to 773 meters above sea level (lowest point). Many of Amman's districts derive their names from the name of the mountain they are built on. Amman enjoys a Mediterranean climate and four seasons of excellent weather as compared to other places in the region. Summer temperatures range from 18 C (64 F) to 36 °C (97 °F) at times , the No of days above 30 C (86 F) is about 60-90 days (around noon time), but with very low humidity and frequent breezes. Spring and fall temperatures are extremely pleasant and mild. The winter sees nighttime temperatures frequently near 0 °C (32.0 °F), and snow is known in Amman, It typically will not rain heavily from June to the beginning of September but light rain will be present at that time of the year. But lately it is starting to snow in April and the beginning of May. In fact about half the quantity of rain Amman and Jordan received in 2008 fell in April, and recently snow sometimes fall in April, and that is very unusual for that time of year. I was looking for a weather similar to Amman in California in order to decide which plants I can grew successfully for my landscaping specially from the new verities which is mainly imported from Holland and Italy as some of them are doing good and others will not survive our dry weather as they need humidity or they cannot with stand the high temperatures like some verityÂs of Fuchsia. In Amman we can grew lemon, Pummels, Clementine, Mandarin (in microclimate home gardens), Orange trees are very rare in Amman as I never seen one full of oranges. What is flowering in Amman now for example plumbagos, cannas, Hibiscus (Disco bell from seeds), lantana, Bougainvilleas, Tecomaria Capensis, Passiflora, Lonicera, creeping verbena, petunia What I can see at the nursery but is not common in home gardens as it seems not successful, azalea, rhododendron, and hydrangea I have read about Sunset Western Garden Book Encyclopedia, USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, heat zone map, sunset zone, where I found some places similar to Amman in average low temperature, but hotter in summer, but I find what I can grew is what resemble my growing zone. (Penny) The weather in WADI MOUSA, Petra will be very nice during the month of October with max average of 28 C and min average of 20 C but will drop to mid 20s in November during the day and around 18s during night time, but it is a very nice place to visit, your are most welcomed to Jordan

It's true that most varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla - the common blue, pink or white flowering bigleaf hydrangea - will not be reliably bud hardy in zones below 6. And even 6 is somewhat marginal. As Luis mentioned, there are a selection of very cold hardy hydrangeas that bloom on both old AND new growth and he listed several. There is also a great deal of anecdotal evidence that 'Nikko Blue' will be remontant or produce flowers from new growth, meaning that it could experience bud loss on old growth due to cold damage yet still produce flowers on growth produced that same season. It is very likely that this cultivar is one of the parents of the more cold hardy, reblooming, newer selections on the market. But in general, most bigleaf hydrangeas in colder climates will require winter protection to ensure no bud loss and a resultant lack of flowers. It's quite possible that your friend has his planted in an area that produces a beneficial microclimate so that the plants are protected from extreme temperatures. Or he could be growing one of the newer cultivars as mentioned, or possibly even a Nikko. Hydrangea arborescens ('Annabelle') and Hydrangea paniculata ('PeeGee', etc.) tend to be very cold hardy AND produce flowers on new growth so are ideal choices for cold climates. But they produce only white flowers (or those tinted with green or pink, depending on age). Your CityLine hydrangeas will definitely require winter protection :-)

Hi Zesty - "Live Life Zestfully" I agree completely!!! I invested on my 5y/o grand daughter's joy, at the sight of a 5ft fully bloomed beauty of a Kyushu tree ... "She looks like a Princess, Mimi, I just have to have her!" Home, we came with our 'Princess Kyu' & never a moment's regret - May 2006! She danced like a graceful ballerina during a tornado grade storm - Jun 2007, survived a heavy ice-storm topped with heavy snow this past Winter (keeled over 45 deg. yanked back into place with straps & stake). Now, she is still her petite 5'2" & fast leafing out!!! Not a 'Splashy Big Daddy' but a zesty Princess that has not failed to fetch "wows" from walkers-by!!! Try Forever & Ever ... IMO, an improvement on ES ... are quite reliable bloomers w/heftier canes for our testy zone! ES & Big Daddy Hs are all over the place here ... I'd rather have Lace Caps & Paniculatas!

Hydrangea are dynamic heavy growers that need adequate food and water! You want rich beauty? Give them the chance to create it! With hydrangeas one is not even on the serious playing level inless we have made deep beds that drain well, are humous rich, and have excellent water holding capacity. I use 20 to 50% compost addition depending on initial soil quality. And the plants aren't complaining much. My starting point looked like this. A garden designer's dream. A good structure clean slate! With mature final trees. First there was partial transformation of the pond area near the gazebo. I am in the middle of installing 80 hydrangea in our new yard NOW. The bright sunny middle of the yard gets Hydrangea paniculata varieties also lily, canna, elephant ear, iris, giant gunnera and more ... a Palm or two is coming, some from seed for fun. The morning sun only and semishaded areas get most of the Macrophylla hydrangea. My basic secret to success in our poor rocky, glacial till soil will be from investing in Cedar Grove recycled yard waste compost. The photo below shows 20 cu yd being delivered (= 495 bags, if purchased it one bag at a time!). Do tarp it if doing a long duration install. I am in the middle of using the second compost load now and am likely going to end up using 50 cu yd in my total yard make over. Once I have the good working scrub beds ... I fertilize initially when hydrangeas are leafing out because they need food then the most. There are definitely some fertilizer tricks to best hydrangea performance. Everyone seems to have their own magic methods that work best for them. For the 1st course plant meal, I like to foliar feed as the leaves are rapidly expanding. I'm walking around in the Spring anyway before work just before dawn in the AM to take a look at the yard and being on "slug patrol" (a hallowed PNW ritual when one tries to fight back). Just before dawn you see leaves pumping water to leaves maying water droplets exude. This is because the plants are actively pumping mineral nutrients into the leaves to get ready to harvest light for the day. It just makes sense to get nutrients there by foliar feeding. The leaves are asking for it! I foliar feed 1 to 4 times over the 4 week or so period when the leaves are soft and expanding. If they look like they need "pumping up" I foliar feed. It does miracles on greening things up especially for less established plants and the leaves get bigger fastet. In foliar feeding you just want to mist enough to the point that leaves start to drip. I have a hand pump up sprayer and use 1/8 to 1/4x the listed dilution recommendation of a quality soluble higher nitrogen balance fertlizer. Maybe once on the spring or early summer I use Ironite if the leaves just won't green up otherwise. Since you are using little fertilizer to do this, you can afford to go quaility. Seaweed derived liquid ferlizers are preferred even claimed as legendary by many, Agroflash a good example. If you are using MiracleGro for foliar feeding (or root feeding in drier weather) be sure to go on the light side! It has high quality ingredients in great balance BUT is also loaded with common table salt to help it dissolve quickly. At 1/3x or higher strength it can burn leaves if it dries on them in bright sunlight. Drying concentrates fertilzer salts on leaves and your making a briny coat! If foliar feeding in dry warm weather I do it very early in the day and mist it off an hour or two later before the sun gets strongly oriented onto the plant leaves. However, light salts may not be bad. I feel that dilute ferlizer salts (or Ironite) dried onto the plant surfaces creates a nasty to deadly environment for small insects and microbes. Brine is inhospitable! By the way ... your body has depends on the same thing! Lightly taste the back of your hand or upper arm ... yep we're brine protected too. If you keep this washed off you are more susceptible to skin infections. Ok now the 2nd course plant meal. In the Spring I evenly broadcast 10-10-10 slow (3 to 4 month) release pelleted or other slow release fertilzer (eg plant based meals that break down over time) in the root leaf drip zone. Our soil runs quite acid so I use a standard one. If working with neutral or alkaline soil or adding potting soil to the bed (which are pH adjusted nearer to neutral) use fertlizer for acid loving plants. This has Ammonium Sulphate or Sulfer in it to help lower pH. Hydrangea are heavy feeders because they make a lot of leaves and flowers. And so I go either 1.5x what they recommend or use 1x in Spting and 0.5x in early summer again. If the plants are really responding well I admit I'll go 2x. Slow release is a cost effective ... but it better be balanced for flowering. If using a higher nitrogen kind, you might just be getting more production of leaves than flowers! For the 3rd course meal, in the late fall I'll again put down 1/4x of the recomnended loading of the same 10-10-10 slow release ferlizer into the leaf drip zone. This is to build soil quality and root vigor for Spring. Do not use a high nitrogen fertlizer or do this on warmer zones where plants could be growing above ground or you might produce off season leaf growth at risk from frost kill. With these methods I get amazing hydrangea growth, vigor and flower production. With the deep moisture well pits I can install hydrangea right through the summer too and have things thrive. They act like in ground planters to get young plants going. And then have enough size to support final scrub size in summer so we can go on a week vacation and mot need to water. There is one more secret to ensure and even help double my flower production, if you'd like to know it. Works good on Cardiocrinum giganteum and Canna too, in two diiferent yards.