Strawberry Vanilla's paniculata blooms are supposed to start white, turn different shades of pink (including the magenta typically seen in most pictures) and then turn brown. But it was developed in Gorron, France and our/your local weather can throw a monkey wrench in this color progression.

You do not say where do you live or how much sun the original shrub was getting but if your growing season is short, for example, early cold weather can force it to shutdown the blooms (brown out) early thereby skipping some of the pinks.

Down here, it tries to bloom at the worst time of the year, when our temps are above 90s and near the 100s... afterwards, it should turn pink but by the time it should turn pink, we are in daily 100s so the blooms turn brown and we get few or no pinks.

To improve things, keep the soil mulched and as evenly moist as you can so it has no watering issues that could also trigger early browning. Give it as much sun as practical. Of the various hydrangeas, paniculatas can take the most sun, although down here, the leaves can suffer during the summer months so some afternoon shade in intense hot summer locations may be ok.

I usually suggest to keep hydrangeas for at least three years as they can take about that long to become established in your garden. But, gosh, no pinks in three out of four years is not a good "record" for a paniculata. I am trying an early flowering one to see if pinks are not much of an issue.

Paniculatas always produce blooms whose colors are not that sensitive to soil acidity, unlike your mopheads do... so there is nothing needed to amend the soil with when it comes down to the care of paniculatas. Just fertilize in Spring with about 1 cup (varies depending on the size of the plant) of organic compost, composted manure or cottonseed meal. Or use a slow release, general purpose chemical fertilizer with a NPK Ratio near 10-10-10 (follow label instructions... maybe even use half of the suggested label amounts if your soil is not sandy). Or even let the shrub "feed" off the decomposing mulch.

Strawberry Vanilla is a different species than your mopheads. Blue mopheads are big leaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla) vs SV is a panicled hydrangea (H. paniculata). So as Luis said, SV is supposed to start white and the transition after a few weeks to pink. I am in central NH and SV does the color transition here; though I do not grow this particular cultivar, I have seen it in nurseries with the color shift. Telling us about your location, sun exposure and moisture may help get other suggestions.

I am in central NC. Zone 7a-7b border. She is planted on the NE side of my house and gets morning sun to about 1pm. I have 2 azaleas growing on that side and they start getting shade around 11ish and they are 6' tall and as wide... They are full of blooms. Just FYI..

Yes It's all in the sun. More sun more pink. Usually afternoon sun is better.

Hi Deb, VS pruned to tree form about 10yr old ... morning sun till about 2

Mine baked in afternoon sun and almost died. Only had one branch alive. I moved it to morning sun only and it improved. Still only has one branch after two years, but that branch is alive and well.

How well these handle sun depends a lot on where they are growing. Luis in TX finds his need some shade and careful attention to moisture. Here in NH mine are fine in all day sun, mulched, but given no extra water after the first three years, and we have had at least a month without appreciable rainfall more than once during their time in my garden. Without information on where a poster is located like raestr, Luis, and me, take any comments with a grain of salt.

If you want to add zone and location so it posts automatically next to your name, here is how:

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 either here or on the profile page under the name posted, 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.

Hi raestr. I would suggest that you maintain the soil as evenly moist as possible and mulch year around. Also, choose a location that is not windy because, in the summer, winds & temps 90F plus require lots of rain. Morning sun only is a great idea too.

The hot weather can dehydrate the leaves and heat stress can yellow them out to the point that branches have no leaves and blooms' sepals dry out early. I sometimes hand water in July-septemer. But the blooms do not get much pink before they brown out. I am testing earlier or late blooming paniculatas like QF and Tardiva.

My observations match yours. Warm temps in the summer are the reason paniculatas in this areas skip pink and often go directly from white to brown. Quickfire and Little QF skirt this a little because they typically are the earliest blooming of paniculatas and can start getting pink early in mild winters... (they leaf out earlier than normal in mild winters). But once temps get high enough in the summer (I have not determined about where that is) then the sepals brown out so QF and Little QF do not have pinks for too long here. I also considered experimenting with Tardiva because it blooms quite late and may skirt the hot temps. But, I have no idea when it will open bloom down here and, if it opens blooms in September here, our September temps can be still quite high (meaning the blooms will brown out). :o(