Sleslie, If you have Endless Summer you don't have to protect but if you do you will have more flower buds come Summer. I winter protected mine and it did not have one stem with out a flower as you can see in this picture: To Winter Protect them I heavily Mulch the base of the plant with straw or mulch. Then I stake the area around them with 4 ft wood stakes I buy from Lowes making sure to leave some space between the stakes and the leaves. Then I surround the stakes with chicken wire and fill it up with leaves which you can bum off from a neighbor if you don't have any. Make sure that you fill the caged area all the way to the top covering the hydrangea. Also save some leaves as the leaves will settle in during the winter and you will need to refill the cage. You can also cover the cage with burlap but I didn't find that necessary. You can bury your potted one in the ground and give it the same treatment. The "fun" part comes in Spring when you uncover them and then have to baby them running around with blankets every time there is a frost warning. At first they will look dead but trust me do not prune those branches back until early summer. Mine looked completely dead but thanks to friends on here I didn't prune them back and they bloomed beautifully. I uncovered mine on Mothers day and was told later that I waited a bit long and it caused mine to be a bit yellow and tender to the touch. This year I plan to uncover them the last week of April and see what happens. I do not prune the Endless Summers as they really don't need it but if you want to I think that early fall would be the time. If you prune them in Spring you will not have any blooms for the rest of the year(if they are mopheads) If you have Annabell or Limelight you can prune those down in the fall or Spring. You can search on here for pruning times and tips.

jenswrens: have patience. If you notice on the tag, it says it will reach 3-5'. Here in Minnesota, it will reach about 3' and the same spread, a nice round ball ultimately. The 5' size is for those southerners with much longer growing seasons (Georgia, etc) It will take a good 3 years for your ES to really put on a great root system and get settled in its spot. You'll find after a few years quite a few shoots coming from the ground, and during some springs, some buds shooting from the stems at the base as well - this will depend on how cold the winter is and if we have good snow cover. yes, it will reliably bloom on new wood. I can vouch for this - I work at Bailey and was involved early on in the introduction of this plant. We have had test plants at the nursery, in our test block since 1987. Expect your first flowers in mid to late June (if it ever warms up and plants grow!). That frost that you mentioned is a big bummer, but it has happened to almost everyone's plants. They'll grow out of it. Keep it well watered, and give it some acid based fertilizer this spring. good luck. hope you enjoy your ES PP

Congrats! I know how tricky these can be for those in colder zones so enjoy your bounty :-)) And I have to say this looks like a banner year for hydrangeas in my area as well. Not only with flowering but the plants themselves are growing like they are on steroids! I may have to do some pruning later.

Sorry but that is not supportable evidence. And/or is grossly out of date. There is no mention of Semperflorens anywhere on the Esveld website. Nor is there any locatable documentation to support the notion that Pieter Zwijnenburg had anything to do with its introduction. Still not buying this without better documentation/proof.