We have not experienced overly favorable growing conditions with an overabundance of rain and predominately below average temperatures. The bit of bronzing and slight bleaching of the one leaf, could simply be the work of the sun on the ONE single warm day we did have, lol ... but, I'd say your shown specimen looks wonderfully very healthy! I did edit this comment.

Thank you so much, FrozeBudd! That is reassuring indeed and I surely hope that I had not done something stupid to stress out my LQFs!!!!!!!!!!! :-) Let's hope that we will have some warmer weather soon! Take care.

FrozeBudd, you were so right! now that we have had some warm sunny days, and after some good rain and irrigation, my LQF are all doing well! They have grown quite well and the bronze colouration is gone!!! I am so happy about that. Thanks for your reassurance when I was just freaking out over nothing... LOL! Thanks!

Ostrich, in the coming years you'll really love and appreciate this hydrangea with its very nice growth habit and extreme hardiness and indeed it blooms early and long and can take on some very nice burnt red tones, a 5 star shrub in my books! The weather of late has been near ideal perfectly comfortable and plants are enjoying it as much as we humans, could use a nice soaking rain though! :)

FrozeBudd, do we need some good soaking rain badly or what!? I can't believe that one rain forecast after another turned out to be false alarm.... hopefully, we will get some rain tonight. Take care!

I'm situated on a large ridge known for its rain shadow effect, very dry here now with not receiving any moisture of significance since early July with that monsoon we had experienced.

Okay, so had spied 'Quick Fire Fab' at Home Depot, I bypassed the small ones earlier on at Super Store ... anyhow, this guy was quite pricy, though of good size. Wouldn't have minded two specimens, though have learned to wait and see of a new introductions performance before purchasing multiples.

Not the best photo, but here's 'Quick Fire Fab', has nice petal shape and good decent substance to them, just wish more blooms were yet developing on those new shoots, I guess next year!

My panicles hydrangea has only begun to show bloom buds opening up. And I agree with Luis, once the roots are established on yours, ostrich, it will be at its best during dry, sunny spells. Just remember 'Hydra' is the Greek root word for 'water' and they do best in consistently moist soils, which I don't have so the garden hose comes out regularly on mine.

btw: It started a nice, straight down rain now and this is after about a month of hot, windy days with only a half inch during that time.

eta: only 1/2 of one tenth of an inch total. Thank you Jan van der Heyden!

FrozeBudd, thanks for the photo! I am really liking the more relaxed and delicate look of the original QF more than QFF. But let's see how this one turns out! If it does bloom very early for this sort of flower head, maybe it is another option later! :-) BTW, my Bobo and newly planted Little Hottie and Strawberry Sundae are all blooming now. Let me tell you, that Little Hottie likely will be quite a winner as it seems to be very floriferous, even at this very young age! We shall see when they have really settled down in my yard.

Oh! FrozeBudd, I had no idea that there is this effect in Spruce Grove! Ouch! It is dry enough in the Edmonton area already.... today we may get lucky and have some rain! Let's see.

Bill, thank you! It sounds like MN (I assume this is where you are!) have similar climiate to AB! I just need to baby my babies (!) a bit more in my recently started backyard! I really missed the established yards from my last couple of houses! Ha ha ha...

Yes, the "more relaxed' bloom style of 'LQF' is very nice, though being someone who enjoys the fuller look, had taken me a bit of fully appreciate the plant, of course now love it, but one thing you'll notice is so do the flies! Yes, had seen 'Little Hottie' at Home Depot and it was loaded in bloom, will snag one next time if in stock!

'Little Quick Fire'

'Moonrock' is a beauty both in bloom and foliage!

FrozeBudd, you are so funny - I used to be a big fan of the big mopheads, but over time, I like the more subtle look of QF and lacecap better now! LOL! How our taste changes over time, eh?

BTW, your Moonrock is so tempting!!! I am kind of kicking myself for not gbetting one recently when it was on a huge sale at Can Tire! But honestly, I kind of ran out of space and time (!) in the current flower beds, and so I had to demonstrate some restraint LOL! But looking at this now, I just feel like kicking myself... LOL! But I do have to say that Little Hottie also has those lovely leaves that are similar to Moonrock too! Very substantial and healthy looking. I can't wait to find out how Little Hottie will do in our climate after the winter!

BTW, all these PW hydrangeas get all of the attention but it seems like these other companies are producing something very interesting too! However, they don't seem to get half the attention though, probably due to marketing.... what a shame!