SO, to keep this a little more on topic. According to new research (May 2, 2012) in Nature plants are leafing and blossming earlier and earlier and in leaf longer and longer. 1558 plants were monitored, on 4 continents. And these findings were compared to experiments and it showed that what happens in nature points to a stronger, not weaker signal than in those experiments. And the link is with higher temperatures. Oke, this is a proxy of course. We can easily find the trends. The lowest of all datasets is the one of the UAH (a satellite dataset). It is updated till april 2012. Their global longtermtrend is a rise of 0.13 K per/decade. Not what you would have thought when it would have not warmed. But it is less than it was till 2002 or so (Edit: I write this now in hindsight, as I was not aware of the 2003 date you mentioned in your message. I opened a second window to read it...So there is your answer: indeed since 2003 there is less additional warming). I guess it was 0.17 or 0.18 K back then. Look at the longterm behaviour of the trend: we see bumps here and there. It is not a straight line as human induced global warming does not cancel out natural variation. That remains and still has an influence by slowing down or speeding up the upward trend. The other satellite dataset, RSS (V3.3) now shows a warming of 0,15 K decade (as opposed to 0.162K/decade in the V3.2 dataset). Note: a ten year average. If it was warmer till 1998, we would have seen a cooling trend. It is still warming up though. What strikes me is that many sceptics always said this "satellite data is the best there is as we have global coverage" and also "it is the sun, it is all natural". Not familiar with how metstation datasets are compiled, checked and tested, they said these had to be wrong. It turns out that these datasets are virtually identical and in the past, satellite datasets were wrong and needed big corrections (yes, also by the sceptical scientists behind these measurements. They have agreed and adjusted accordingly). Landdatasets also go for about 0.15-0.16 K/decade rise. And now I ahve to look at buoys, that do not cover the whole world, that only started measuring in 2003 nd therefor cannot even be used for decadal trends. Like I said: since 2003 there was very little additional warming also in the other datasets. I have also explained how this is, that I expected little additional rise back in 2000 as you can read yourself and the reasons I gave for my forecast are precisely the reasons why there was little additional warming: - no big El Nino's - more La nina's - Less solar irradiation through a calmer sun Purely based on this, one would have expected a clear cooling. It did not happen. It is warmer than ever before on average. The sun will remain in a lull for the next few years, GHG warming pressure continues, El Nino (albeit a weak to moderate one) is coming. This decade will see a stronger rise than the last one, unless we get some major volcanic eruptions. Plants and animals are responding to warming by moving up north in the northern hemisphere and south in southern, by moving up in mountains. We see the permafrost melting in Alaska and Russia, givig way todrunken trees" (they weak ground no longer can support their weight). We see the northpolar icecap melting drastically. We see warmrecords eight times more than cold ones worldwide. The stratosphere is cooling. In part also due to CFC's and the destruction of the ozon layer. These are banned since 1987, so the stratosphere should get warmer over time, warmer than in the 1980s. However: it is not. The 1980s were 0.6-0.8 K warmer (not colder) on average than since 1995. The reason is redistribution of the same amount of energy. Greenhouse gasses trap the heath in the lower atmopshere so less is available more upwards. This wa predicted in the 1970s, when this was not happening yet. BTW: this also leads to a delayed recovery of the ozonlayer. Now, look at Venus with a runaway Greenhouse effect. The surface is at 500 centigrade. The upper atmosphere, inspite of being closer to the Sun, is much much colder than ours! Precisely because of the greenhouse effect. Virtually no solar energy escapes the surface. So the second remark (it is the sun) cannot explain this at all, nor can it explain a rise when the sun is cooler than ever since about 1900. All datasets and all proxies are clear: it is warming. And there is only one thing that can explain it and it was predicted decades before it was measurable.

Uh, I just try and spread them out by bloom time and type. After that it's just whatever looks good and where. Some things grow larger or smaller than you want them to, and you're forced to move them anyway, even if they are in the right light. But as a general rule, these are some combinations that I find acceptable: - Lacecap macs and serratas next to each other. E.g. a "lacecap lane" in a shaded area. Or alternate with mops. - Oakleafs right next to macs don't look very nice. Try staggering or mixing in companion plants. And of course Oakleafs next to Paniculatas or arborescens usually means white on white - I've alternated Paniculatas linearly and generally with hibiscus syriacus (rose of Sharon), roses, weigelas - and alternated Paniculatas themsevles by bloom type and time (e.g. Mop, lace, mop...) --------------------------------- And some more general front-to-back rules I've made are: - dwarves or ones with short leaf internodes always up front (even Paniculatas) - black stemmed or semi-compact varieties in the middle - arborescens in the middle but can be in back in zones 4-6 - most large Paniculatas or Oakleafs in the rear or in the center of a round mass planting. ----------------------- So pretty simple, actually! The hard part is finding out "what grows like what". For example, I will be swapping out Everlasting Opal with Zebra, because I had put Opal in "row 2" - produces huge blooms but is very low-growing - whereas Zebra gets somewhat tall and Looked bad in "row 1"... and of course once you've planted everything "the right way" it can still get a little confusing at a glance but it's easy on the eyes...

once heard a speech at hosta college between the difference between urban and rural deer ... urban deer.. when hungry.. will eat just about anything ... especially under stress ... rural deer ... as babs notes.. have a lot of production crop to feed on during a big part of the season .. out here.. most damage.. comes in really bad winters ... after that speech i noticed the same effect with rabbits ... in suburbia.. with lawn warrior grass being pervasive.. rabbits go after your garden ... but out here with a former horse pasture that i call a lawn ... the rabbits browse the pasture buffet ... clover.. yarrow.. plantain ... rarely do they bother my gardens ... dont get caught up in your Disney/bambi world ... vermin are vermin ... no matter how cute and fuzzy they are ... and no matter how big they are ... if those two drop a youngin.. then next year you have 4 ... then 8 .. then etc ... if the golden is trained to the property.. let him chase them off next time ...no way he will ever catch them ... but they will get the idea he doesnt want them there ... enjoy looking at them.. on someone elses property .. lol ... ken

@luis_pr Thank you so very much for the info! I have seen people plant ES on the ground in the spring and dig up and put in a pot and bring inside for the winter. For me, it is almost not possible. 1, the plants are very big now, 3 ft wide and tall, as I bought the 4 gallon ones in the spring. oh well. 2, too much trouble for me and too much shock for the plant. 3, i dont have indoor space and big enough window to give them the light to keep them happy insdie. Artificial light is too much set up again. SO after some search, i will be use the cardboard box method, i think. Here are tentative steps: please help me better this process if something wrong in the procedure lol. Zone 3/4, Edmonton 1) After tree leaves fall, collect leaves in plastic bags. 2) When ES hydrangea leaves are brown and dried, covered them with a cardboard box, fill in dried leaves. 3) Tape the top of the cardboard box, to seal. 4) Secure the bottom with rocks or garden staples. 5) Wrap the box with brown burlap. 6) Wrap again the box with black landscape fabric, to absorb warmth from the sun. 7) Sit for the winter to be over, hopefully lots of snow cover. 8) Remove protection around last spring frost, on May 15 ish. 9) If Frost come back after the fact. using white drop cloth for temporary cover. I also attached a pic of my blue ES (the original) in my yard this year. Isn't this blue out of this world!