NHBabs - sent a reply to a msg u sent me. Had never sent or received a msg. Didn't know I had one. Sorry.

ut2nc - I've been reading alot on the hydrangea forum. I've had no blooms for years. If u haven't read them I would. Found I had several issues with mine. Mine r covered for the winter for the first time. Can't wait to see if it worked.

Thank you both for replying!

I have read most of the threads. I covered them on our worst nights but maybe I missed one. I was worried about my ES because they appeared to have budded but they still bloomed so I had hoped the NB were safe but perhaps not. They are on different sides of the house so might have very different microclimates.

I didnt think anything of the fall/winter sun and if it might impact it until I trimmed some Ilex and the exposed areas budded and put out new froth and leaves... I thought well, maybe the sun on the fading leaves or sun made a difference when it wa creating its buds for next year.

My zone is too cold for macs - but I bought ES because they supposedly bloom on new wood. Mine have not. I used a leaf bag cut the bottom open slipped it over the plant & packed leaves around it. Hope it works. Annabelles are reliable here. I would recommend those.

Mopheads like NB develop flower buds on old wood, between July and August (around July for me and August for you). The buds can withstand winters up to Zone 6 but only if the plant goes dormant without problem in the Fall, if the winter temps are not too cold for your zone, if the plant continues to get moisture before the ground freezes, and if the plant does not break dormancy due to high temps in winter.

if you want to get reliable blooms from those buds, you need to winter protect. You also need to protect in cases where the weather stays warm but temperatures suddenly come crashing down (like 25 or less). High temps can make the lants break dormancy. Then sudden and large drop below 32F can kill the buds.

Down here in Zone 8, mopheads, lacecaps and oakleafs are alive, green and well as if this was September. Paniculatas went dormant a few weeks ago. So, I am concerned about damage from a sudden large drop in temps under these conditions.

Two winters ago, winter started late, the plants did not go dormant in the Fall and December had a nasty temp drop from the 70s to the 20s that continued for a while. Last year, the same thing occurred but in the 1st quarter of 2015. Both scenarios killed flower buds. So this year, I am trying to winter protect the hydrangeas like NB that bloom on old wood. You might winter protect if you want to make sure you get bloomage in Spring.

Since my leaves are still a nice, lush, green or red, I just put the chicken wire around the plants and will add mulch either before there is a large drop in temps or after gradual/small drop in temperatures dry out the leaves. By the way, which Ilex do you have? I was looking at one deciduous holly that produces yellow 'berries' (drupes) because I have several fruit producing shrubs around but no yellow 'berries'.

Your new Ilex leaves may get winter killed since they were new and didn't have a chance to harden off completely.

Endless Summer was selected to bloom on both old and new branches, so even if your buds got winter killed, it could still put out new buds to bloom later in the season. I think it's a bit hardier than many H. macrophyllas as well. The NBs don't necessarily bloom on new wood; though I have heard of a few folks who got some later bloom, I think in general they are spring bloomers only, so that if the buds get winter killed, they don't bloom that year. There are other H. macrophyllas beside ES that bloom on new wood, so you could try some of them if the NBs don't work out. Hopefully this winter will be less severe and the NBs will bloom for you. If not, they might have too much shade and would benefit from being moved. You can check to see how much sun they get June 21, and then about once a month after that to see what kind of sun they get during the growing season.

The temps dropped into the mid 20s last night but I did cover them with thick flannel sheets. I hope it was enough. I left the ES's go. I figured they could bloom on the new wood if they lost their old wood blooms. I would hate to see that happen as they are the best display but I am also a little curious if that would kill the buds. If it does I will winter protect them next year too. None of mine had a chance to go completely dormant because of the warm weather. Night before last it was supposed to be 36 but I woke to frost so I am hoping the flowers survived, but it's possible they didn't.

We have Ilex Convexa. i trimmed the ilex twice this year once in the spring, after the first and then recently because it was just unmanageable and the wildlife was a little too cozy in there. It's right up against our porch by our front door and we can't get to our clogged rain gutters. I know any new growth will likely die since it is so late and really the wrong time to prune. We plan on pruning them hard in early, early spring. My husband wants to prune them hard now, but I am trying to hold him off.

Ours gets the tiniest white flowers that the bees just love but I have never once seen a berry on it -and I was checking. It is supposed to get black berries on it -I thought.

Do you know the rate of growth compared to boxwoods? I read conflicting estimates for both.

Where are you located? Temps often drop into the 20's periodically here but typically only a night or two at a time and I never cover or winter protect my hydrangeas and never experience bloom failure as a result. It certainly helps if the plants have some time to enter typical dormancy before the cold weather hits but in my experience, damage to latent flower buds is much more likely to occur from late spring frosts than it is from a few cold nights in winter.

btw, in mild winter climates, Nikko Blue is considered mildly remontant. It was one of the cultivars included in the breeding process for the Endless Summer series. As per Dirr: "Nikko Blue is an enigma as to origin; the true taxon, consistently listed as a cold hardy and remontant cultivar, is confused in the trade" meaning that there are various clones going by the name 'Nikko Blue' that may or may not be the real Nikko Blue' :-)

ut2nc, Ilex crenata 'Convexa' is a female clone and berries will only be present if you have a suitable male pollinator in the vicinity. Although I wouldn't go out of my way to find and plant one as the berries on Japanese holly are nothing to get excited about :-) Any holly will grow faster than boxwood, which is about the slowest growing shrub I can think of!!

We have at least 10 in the hedge. I thought at least one would be male if they needed a male and female plant. I didn't know if they could self pollinated like roses or not. Maybe the people who planted them selected female ones on purpose so they would get the berries since they make a mess on the cement.

We're about an hour SE of Raleigh, NC. We are usually a degree or two warmer than arable ugh and a little drier.