Thank you for your thoughtful advice, Springwood Gardens! I appreciate it. We do get pretty hot here in the summer, but it's also very humid. I check on the bushes everyday, and they have not been wilting at all so far-- I do make sure to keep their soil moist; one side already has a drip hose around the plant (far enough out to not get the leaves wet), the other I've just been watering when the soil feels dry half an inch down. I've read enough to know that hydrangeas cannot tolerate BOTH full sun and dry soil. The leaves on my particular Revolutions are noticeably smaller than the leaves on the Horwack I have, which might be why they seem much more resistant to wilt than the Horwack. I will admit if I had done even more research when I started to plant them, I would have placed them in a shadier location for the first 6 months or so... but they have been growing in full sun this whole time, so I'm pretty sure the Revolution can tolerate it (unlike the Horwack). I thought they were more likely to tolerate full sun, too, since I"m in a cooler climate than a lot of hydrangeas will prefer (but, the zone thing doesn't really account for the highs of an area-- we do have highs for most of the summer in upper 80s and lower nineties, with a few spikes or hot weeks over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in August and September. I don't mind babying the little plants, though-- I think as long as I'm conscientious about keeping an eye on the health of the plants from day to day, they should be okay. I'll pot them up and move them out of full sun if I see them struggling. I didn't think hostas grew well in full sun-- am I wrong? I do have some sedum I could transplant around the little guy, but I'm worried about the root competition. When I moved them from gallon pots into the soil I noticed the roots were pretty shallow still. If that would be better than mulch, though, I'll do it. I will definitely build up the mulch-- I'm planning to mulch everything after work today. It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I feel like I should probably snip off the buds for the health of the plants this year so they can put their energy into growing roots and leaves, but I also want to see the blooms since I've read so many posts on here of people believing they have one variety, and when it blooms it turns out to be a different variety. What if I leave one bunch of broccoli intact on each plant and nip off the rest of the flower buds? Will that encourage them to grow more? Sorry if my questions are obvious, these sort of specific information are hard to find on google. Although I like the Horwack a lot, I am really impressed with the Revolution so far. They've been much more hardy than I expected for hydrangeas. And the compact size is perfect as we have a pretty small lot! I attached a picture to show the relative leaf size of the Horwack versus the Revolutions-- this is right after I pulled them out of the shipping container from the ebay seller; so this is the size they all started out at in late April. They've definitely grown.

Very Nice NHBabs - very nice! Our droughts can last weeks in the Atlanta area but at least we can water, on our watering days up to 10 AM (wet years no one pays attention to these rules). Been here 38 years and have had two summers where we had a total water ban - talk about brutal. We often get sued by AL and FL over the Chattahoochee River so we get a total water ban while AL folks continue watering like its nobody's business (but then they also have the TN River running through the upper end of the state) - not quite fair but what can you do? Use grey water collected in the tub, washing machine, and sinks; AC condensate and hope everything ekes by until the fall rains come in.

You're welcome. Also... I am not sure where you are but fyi... I too have Shooting Star and it is fickle for me winter-wise. It will "easily" loose flower buds during winter if the winter is mild and temps suddenly go below freezing for a day or more so be ready to winter protect it if lack of blooms becomes an issue in your hot SoCal location. Notice I said "if". Maybe in Zones 9-11 it will not be so temperamental.

hey grow power, i am interested in a trade of strawberries, thornless bberry for curly willow and hydrangea... although i have been living in the klamath siskiyou mountains, way way way up north almost to oregon in a very remote part of nor cal....i am currently on the south shore of massachusetts. i have all this heavy family stuff i am dealing with...and my dad's house, who is now gone sadly =( i just went to message you and found your messaging settings arent enabled...so i can't message. i wish houzz would just enable this by default, but you have to go into your account settings to be able to receive private messages on this site. you go to this ---> go to ADVANCED SETTINGS (<<--click here) and scrolling down to the bottom of the page there is a section called privacy settings...change that drop down box to ALLOW ANYONE TO MESSAGE ME well here since i can copy and paste this, here's the basic instructions for setting up your profile... select the option of “ALLOW ANYONE TO MESSAGE ME” under "Who can message me". click on "UPDATE" when you are done to store your settings. ========================================== To add your growing zone: Go to ADVANCED SETTINGS Look for - Climate Zone for Garden Forums - and fill in your zone. ====================================================== To make/edit your wants list: Go to ADVANCED SETTINGS -Then click on the box under “My GardenWeb Trading List” -Type/paste in your seeds in a vertical list (much easier to read than a horizontal list with commas between). ============================================================= To access these settings: if you are currently logged in, click on your name anywhere on the site, or the “Your Houzz” button at the top right of any page. Then go to ===> Edit Profile ===> Advanced Settings (located under “Account”on the left) also, this page can be accessed by going directly to the web address - https://www.houzz.com/settingsAdvanced this is the page where you can edit your preferences, allow people to email you, list your growing zone, and fill in your have/ want lists. anywho feel free to message me when you get that set up.