The chart is nifty! There is something I have wondered about the early blooming hydrangeas. Do they continue blooming throughout the summer or do they brown or dry earlier too? If the latter, isn't it unattractive to combine two types?

On a different note, this year the brown blossoms from last year never dropped from my peegee hydrangeas! This was the first year I didn't bother pruning them and I was happy about their larger size and arching habit, but it was too strange to have both fresh and dead blossoms at the same time. Does this mean I will have to deadhead even if I don't prune? It would require a ladder!

They brown out earlier than mid to late bloomers here. Cool nights and sufficient moisture may help lengthen the whites and pinks. Hot temperatures will not help lengthen the whites or pinks. But yes, the early ones will brown out before the later/late ones here..

You can add late blooming Tardivas around the early blooming ones for a nice look of shrubs that appear to be blooming brown blooms (these would be the early blooming hydrangeas) around the white blooms of the very late blooming Tardivas. I saw a great photo online of this effect in a magazine but lost the link to it. I suggest you view the blooms to see if you personally think they might look unattractive as that is too much of a personal choice. But they looked great (to me) in that picture I mentioned.

The panicle blooms of paniculatas and oakleaf hydrangeas are thicker than most other hydrangeas so they can hold the large blooms (although some end up flopping but the blooms do not fall down). As a result, they can remain a long time if the weather does not help to "disintegrate" them. You may have to deadhead them sometimes. I particularly do not like it when I get brown + white, where the brown blooms turn a darker brown, almost blackish color.

The ladder sounds useful but I would make it a habit to deadhead PeeGees while they have no leaves so you can see where to cut more easily. You may go crazy trying to reach the very top thru all the foliage. Luckily though, that foliage should drop down in the next few months (or wait until closer to the end of winter to deadhead as, by then, most leaves will have disintegrated).

This is what I bought for hedging large shrubs over my head (like camellias).

It is heavy but no ladders and a quick job. I may use it for some hydrangeas this fall/winter too.

While the early paniculatas might brown out earlier for Luis, they don’t for me. My Quickfire starts blooming for me in early July and keeps fresh-looking blooms until frost, typically around the end of October. My Pinky Winky and the neighbors’ Peegees and Limelights all last until frost as well, and they start blooming about three weeks after QF. Since you have a moisture regime closer to me, and I imagine not the extreme temperatures that Luis gets, I don’t know how they will do for you, but I think it would be worth a try.

Quickfire last week

Pinky Winky at the same time.

Nice resource, Marie! Thanks.

Nice HC McDole....I have both the extending hedge in the Dewalt 40V and Milwaukee M18 platform. I don't like the balance of either and still prefer the gasser...

The real + with the cordless tools and being able to use them at 6 AM without causing too much noise ;-)

I had the 40v Ryobi but this 56v EGO runs circles around the older system. We even went with their mower when the gas Troybilt quit this summer. Very impressed with the whole system - weed eater, hedger, blower, edger, pole saw, and chain saw. No gas or oil and no pull string starters. Wished this had been around 20 years ago