I have not heard bad things about it and, as usual, the advertising pictures look nice but, yes, you better like it because if you do not like it or keep it, it would be a very $25-29 expen$ive dud. Ha! :o)

PS - Keep the receipt as some nurseries will return your money back. And remember that it will look all pink or all blue if your soil is very alkaline or very acidic.

I agree with comment #1. I have not seen signs of flowering yet, but shoots are at about 4" high and old-wood buds are still in the process of opening. I will be posting around later once the shrub has filled out for the season.

The dieback factor is huge with me. It was one of only a handful out of 70+ to experience next to zero dieback.

Bloomstruck isn't impossible to get either, or price-wise. I found my lone test plant in a 2-gallon for $18 . And I would've bought a few more if I'd known how good it was going to do over winter.

At HD here in Virginia on sale for 9.99! But plants are small....

Mine is now full of buds=no dieback and HD has them mixed in with ES Orginal and Twist and Shout for 9.99!

it did very well for me in its first year and has lots of flower buds now. The only drawback (for me) is that it's a little too short for my needs.

HDs in my area hardly ever put hydrangeas on sale ! :( Last year they had lots of limelight left late in the season but they still wouldn't put them on sale till one day, all of them were off the shelf.

Most places won't put hydrangeas on sale until after July 1. And then, intermittently. HD is more likely to run sales than Lowe's.

And another update: my Bloomstruck has reached 12" tall is not yet showing signs of flowering. Maybe it will bloom late.

I got my bloomtruck last November so I had left it in the nursery pot still. It came back with lots of buds but the color is horrible. It is very very pale dirty pink with a tinge of blue. Does anyone know why?

That does look a bit unappealing. Maybe too much shade or some kind of nutrient deficiency? Either that or you might have to add a powder to make it pinker or bluer.

Update #2. Mine now has one old wood flower forming and that's it. Might need another year or two before it takes off. Or else I will move it, like I have all my other ES. :)

The potting soil is probably not really soil so maybe it needs to be in new soil with a ph!

Most potting soil seems to lean toward pink, at least from my experience. Maybe someone can shed some light on this.

The pot may have said 'Bloomstruck' but perhaps it actually contained a Blushing Bride Hydrangea instead?

It's bloomstruck because last year it has rich margenta flower. I got it from Calloway's and i have noticed that their bloomstrucks this year don't bloom very rich in color either. I wonder if it's a dud. Here is the pic from last year.

Also note the red stems. ESBB doesn't have them.

Never mind then. See if you can do a potting mix pH test and a mineral test of NPK to see what these detect, if any. For example, if the potting mix becomes too alkaline, the plant may be unable to absorb needed minerals or if watering has leeched out minerals, the plant cannot get needed minerals because there are none or too little and must be replenished. The closest to this whiting of blooms that I can remember was a post from someone whose Nikko Blue blooms in neutral soil close to or at 7.0 were turning whiteish to greenish to very light blueish but, that was at least 2-3 years ago so I do not remember where this happened or if the plant was potted or in the ground. The post may still be "out there" in the forum.

I have had mine for several months and no blooms; leaves look beat up too.