Hello, Josh. It is all relative and depends on where you are. Oakleaf hydrangeas can take a lot of sun (and more than mopheads), especially where the sun is weak in the summer months, For example, in the northeast and some of the northernmost states, they will do fine with morning sun and a few hours of afternoon sun. But in the South with the sun like I get in Texas, the leaves get sunscorch after 12pm in the summer.

Hydrangeas are understory shrubs so they will do fine underneath a tree just about everywhere. Dappled sun is just peachy with them. I have some oakleaf hydrangeas under a Crape Myrtle too. If you decide to put them under a tree, make sure that the tree's roots will not be invasive and the tree does not produce juglone.

I find that one has to play a little with the location. Down here, the Fall sun starts coming at an angle and what looked fine in the summer may not get too much sun in the Fall. Feel free to experiment by putting them in pots in one location and move the pots if you are not happy with the results. When you settle on a location then plant them in the ground.

Note: if the location gives them too much sun, the leaves will turn yellow-ish or an off white-ish color, including the leaf's veins.

Which ones are you planting?

Luis

Thanks Luis for you kind thoughts!

I need to change my username so that it shows my 7b/8a Georgia information. I had a feeling that the 5 hours of harsh afternoon light would be just too much. I'm glad that my original plan of putting them under my giant crepe myrtle is good. I didn't think that all the cuttings would survive (but they did!). Since I got so many I might just experiment with the runt of the group and see what happens.

As for which variety, I have no idea! The mother plant is located at the school I work at which must have been planted at least 10 years ago. If I had to guess the variety it's probably Snow Queen, but I have no idea to be honest.

Thank you again for your help, I'll probably plant an azalea in that spot instead.

"I need to change my username so that it shows my 7b/8a Georgia information."

Please :)

My oakleaf "Alice" receives full sun from dawn until dusk and I have never seen the first wilted leaf on it- it does just fine. The first couple of years I had it in a more part sun location and it seemed to be reaching for the light to an extreme degree, so I moved it to it's current spot and it seems much happier.

Oh, how lucky you are!!! And good choice. Alice was my first oakleaf hydrangea. New to the current house too. But I unknowingly picked a spot where the water collected and it died on an El Nino Year where we broke rain records. I had to redo areas of the yeard to prevent that again.

Josh, Houzz didn't make it easy to find how to add location info to your name. Here are directions.

Go to Your Houzz in the upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone.

If you add info on your state or the nearest large city you will get even better information since zone only relates to average coldest winter temperatures.

Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

Thank you all for the kind thoughts. I updated my username thanks to NHbabs! and Mcdole, those are some fantastic pictures. I lived in Powder Springs as a teenager so I know Marietta pretty well. Beautiful pictures. I wonder how much light, exactly, those plants get. I was surprised at how much my "shade" garden actually received, I thought 3 hours tops! But after taking about a hundred pictures I found that it's closer to 5 hours when the sun is at its highest.

Anyway, I think I'll experiment since all of the cuttings rooted and if one bites the dust I have 6 more :P

I am in Powder Springs for the last 12 years. Marietta, Smyrna, and Austell for the previous 25+ years depending on just moving a half mile or two miles from the previous abode.

Definitely experiment - keep them watered for the first two years to get them established. After that during droughts. They should do great.

The thing about shade is one typically gets indirect sunlight that one does not take into account. We just fixate on getting direct sunlight. So put a few in pots and try the locations out before summer is gone. Once Fall arives, the sun starts being a bit weaker and leaves brown out and plants go dormant and stuff. That is why you want to know how the leaves will do during the hot months.