Does Murphy's oil soap use lye or potassium hydroxide to soaponfy the "oil"? Soaps made from potassium are generally liquids whether made from oil or more typcally from tallow or lard. The potassium soap would be far less toxic to plants than soap from lye which is caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). Note a soluble soap is an alkalai metal salt of a fatty acid. I used to buy concentrated Safer Soap in just about any nursery but now all I find is the premixed 1% or so and that formulation just is not practical to use as a base mix in my 3 gal sprayer. I have heard really bad things about using Dawn except as a spreader/sticker in herbicides. Most detergents don't list the active ingredients now days.

Oakleaf hydrangeas are known for retaining foliage well into winter and the milder the climate/the higher the zone, the longer they hold on to them. In my area, oakleafs hold their old foliage ALL winter and only drop them as the new growth emerges in spring. As I grow several dwarf cultivars in containers, I tend to remove the leaves manually (too impatient!) on these but allow the inground selections to drop theirs naturally.

THANK you louis...Tx~ I learned a lot here, from N.C. You are totally right, mulch is important; I do use same hardwood mulch that breaks down, only that type, and it pays off beautifully. I have not had to add leaves or cover any Hydrangeas and they are fine, still think it is due to understanding their temperature tolerance levels and mine are all placed near a building's corner, out of course 4 or so feet. They especially do well where they get the warming from the western side of our place. Nutrition- when adding plants in the borders or garden areas I back-fill with a home-made mix that is good for everything, boosts the amount of soil accumulating where once there was just clay- it's from a garden friend- she says to mix it in a wagon/wheelbarrow to have it ready: 1/3 organic topsoil ,1/3 mushroom compost, & 1/3 Black Cow aged manure. I have someone lift the bags(almost always at Lowe's home improvement stores; sometimes I add a bit of peat moss-something I always heard to use, for good measure, and use and keep any potting soil from annual's or dead plants' pots unless they were unhealthy plants. It is great for increasing the amount of the mix , just don't usually use much of that, but it saves $. I keep the soil mix around most of the time, in a manageable wagon (wheelbarrow is fine, too, but my spine is an issue so I can't take chances lifting). YES we have had the colder temperatures than our N. C. coastal home, about 10 degrees difference. Interestingly the hydrangeas of all types have thrived at the freezing-cold farm, whether Oak Leaf, mophead, etc.,blooming by age 3 when spring comes around. My first experience with a Hydrangea was our old,original Hydrangea from the homestead, a Mophead that turned white, green, blush, and was planted at least a number of decades before, by the former owners. It died sadly 4 yrs. back, possibly the deer finished it off as we were not there much and had suffered a bad drought here I recall that year and it was noticeably aging; BUT this being said, it thrived for years, was planted at the very NW corner, benefiting from the protection of the house and Southern exposure perhaps? I NEVER cut it, except for flowers to place inside for joy. I planted more around outbuildings, not the house as it took over the entrance door before, and they are really going well. I pray that they continue to do so up there, because I don't cover anything, and we just had 2 ice-storms switching to 60 degrees F the next week! p. s. last year, this was only 3 yrs. old?!?

If they are pushing out broccoli at this point of the year in Toronto, it is on new wood/this season’s growth. Because it is newly planted, you may not get the same behavior every year since sometimes what the nursery does as far as fertilizer and forcing early bloom messes up the plant’s calendar. i do want to ask about how much sun this plant is getting and how wet the soil feels a few inches down, both in the original root ball and in the surrounding soil. It looks unreasonably stressed, even for a new plant. Or was this kept in the house for several weeks and then planted out without a gradual introduction to outdoor conditions?