They look Great!!!

Awesome. Down here, QF and Little QF blooms would be all brown since they bloom so early. Poor little Little QF probably has also been tweeting me that it does not like the hot summers all along but, sigh, I do not do tweet. Hee hee hee. ;o)) Just kidding!

You also appear to have a nice sized rhodie besides QF? maybe?

Yes, Luis, in this photo is a tiny edge of Physocarpus Coppertina on the left, a rhodie (I think 'Independence Day'), and Fat Albert blue spruce on the right. I really have ideal soil for Rhododendrons, well into the acid range and well-drained, so all I have to do is add organic matter to the beds and find rhodies hardy enough to be happy here.

QF starts blooming here in late June, PW in late July. When do they bloom in your part of TX?

It has varied as our "winters" tend to endure for short periods of time lately. Winters used to be colder and be winters for longer periods of time.

Now, I have gotten early blooms from shrubbery in January (Quinces, Azaleas, a few roses, etc) and some hydrangeas do not go dormant. Hydrangeas leaf out in Feb and I see panics like QF opening blooms in April. Used to be the blooms would open in the first half of May... when we really had a winter. ;o)) Some oakleafs had flower buds opening in March this year.

Wow , that's 20 feet tall ?

Where did the 20 feet come from? QF is about 8' tall and wide, and PW a bit taller and a lot wider. If you look carefully at the first (PW) photo, there is the top of a rusty metal spiral obelisk/trellis over to the right where the two evergreens meet which tops out at 5' exactly. Since PW is a bit downslope, it's most likely around 9' tall now.

Hi Babs, in fairness to gg, pictures can be deceiving....I also thought they were mobsters as for finding the rusty metal spiral good luck with that ( I did find it I think).. still they look great

Anyone else have autumn color for H. paniculatas?

Leaves are still green here. Most blooms are brown though, except for some that have rebloomed. Did not get much macro bloomage this year; zero blooms with mopheads and limited blooms with lacecaps.Too early for the oakleaf leaves to turn.

Wow, surprised, thinking z8 would have blooms most of the year..up here in the NE we know what to expect with Macs maybe good or Total Zero... LOL

Incrediball still putting out blooms

Hyed, my Annabelle looks the worst I've ever seen it (along with other large-leafed plants like hostas), though it usually looks fairly decent in fall. We had a couple of hailstorms that pounded holes in everything, plus several rains of well over an inch an hour, and it just looks sad and browned.

Your Little Lime has the best color I've ever seen on one!

Luis, I think that the cooler weather up north really suits the H. paniculatas since they look good all growing season IME.

I have noticed that the Annabelle leaves appear here more tired or flimsy by the end of the growing season in December. Like the had a rough time with the hot summer and-or the pooches chasing squirrels around Anna. Hee hee hee!

I know what you mean with hailstorms. Very frequent events down here in Spring, Summer and Fall. As a matter of fact, I had a mophead protected by a Crape Myrtle in the back when a hailstorm hit and broke the branches that shaded it. I did not think anything about that until, weeks later, I noticed that the plant look like it had yellow and green leaves! Like green-yellow poinsettias sold at Walmart. Turned out the hailstorm hit in the summer and the leaves were no longer being protected and were getting sun 6am until 3-5pm. The leaves in contact with that much sun then got bleached, which forced me to build a contraption to provide temp shade until the cooler weather showed up in October. Lord.

I like the cooler weather in the NE too. I used to visit my mother in law Aug-Oct for that reason and I found it funny when "locals" would gasp about how hot it was and then I remembered why I went to visit at that time (it is so much cooler... ha!).

Silver Dollar

Tikva5, Interesting that your silver dollar has so little pink color developed. Is this tendency to stay white fading to chartreuse a selling point for Silver Dollar, or is this usual for paniculata varieties in your area?

They do not really mention the fall color on marketing materials. Maybe it was too dry for it this fall or the soil too alkaline?

This young White Diamond has held its flowers well, but the color is a relatively pale pink. The red is a deciduous rhododendron.