I was just down at Greenleaf Nursery in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for their semi-annual open house, and got to see some of the new intro's for next year. The Incredibelle hydrangea does look promising - nice pink tinge to the bloom. This is going to be very heavily promoted, as a portion of the sales proceeds will go for breast cancer research. Didn't see Incrediball, the monster blooming arborescans type. I hope it really does hold up those blooms - wouldn't look too good in the mud after a big mid-west thunderstorm! There are some cute truly dwarf butterfly bush I was impressed with - 'Blue Chip', I think it was. Bloomerang lilacs are going to be both in short supply and very pricey next spring - IF I could get any, they would be in 8" pots and would retail for around 25 or 30 dollars. Think I'll hold off on these... I got a sample plant of Twist and Shout hydrangea from my sales rep this year, this is a really pretty lacecap, supposed to re-bloom. I like it a lot! but we'll see just how well it does - you know, an awful lot of folks have not had all that spectacular success with Endless Summers... That Vanilla paniculata is pretty in the pictures, but really - how many new panicle hydrangeas do you folks think you need? If my customers are willing to chase every little new red wagon of a plant introduction, I guess I'll sell them. Those of us in the industry have seen a lot of new plants come along lately, and these new introductions are a good thing. Not all of them are really all that much better, or different, or actually suitable for where YOU are gardening. But, as I always tell my customers, part of the challenge and adventure of gardening is trying new plants and seeing how they do for you!

Bill, that's a nice healthy paniculata, though too bad about the nipping of buds! I live in a forest with tons of nuisance deer and protect a good deal of my garden with those Scarecrow Sprinklers. The devices are not 100% reliable in that they need to be reset quite often, the older models had worked very effectively in comparison, though I can sleep pretty well when checking them before heading to bed. Vivienne, yes, the weather is dreadful and has been for weeks on end, just near constant overcast and rain, rain, rain and well below normal temperatures! As for hydrangeas, 'Incrediball' is doing great, it's grown huge and up to my chest and nicely budded up! 'Invincibelle Spirit II' is coming along just fine and paniculata 'Little Lamb' is pushing buds and so is 'Lavalamp Moonrock', albeit a bid later (I love this hydrangea btw!). 'Little Quickfire' was damaged and slowed by winter's wrath and is well behind where it should be for this time of the year, but what's not late due this crappy non summer like weather!

Another option would be to encircle the plant stems with a short green wire fence early enough that the leaves haven’t yet unfolded. Alternatively, put the fencing horizontally and fastened to legs of rebar or stakes. The fence gets covered by the leaves, becoming largely invisible, and provides some extra support to the stems. IME, pruning can help the lower stems be stiffer, but then you have the floppy new growth above the pruned stems, so I prefer to not do much pruning on cultivars of arborescens. Not everyone else has had the same experience.

Uneven soil pH zones can give amazing hydranges color effects! Especially with certain hydrangea. Since the old 'Mathilda Gutges' is very similar or identical to LA Dreaming I can tell you how to get this the multicolor effect Reliably ... and my guess is that this is what convinced the grower that LA Dreaming is a reliable multicolor. Below is my 5 gallon tub grown 'Mathlida Gutges' produced in Miracle Gro Moisture Control soil. I potted in early Fall the year before and planted it in a new yard the next Spring with acidic soil. In a major house move 1.5 years ago this soil in fact shifted ALL my transfer tub planted blue hydrangea still in pots to solid rich pink, even a 'Blue Wave' lacecap! I purchased the soil from Costco because it sells for $9.95 for 55 qt at bags (Spring to early Summer).. To get this effect in YOUR hydrangea grow it in a production pot with standard e.g Miracle Gro Mositure Control potting soil. The pH is adjusted for bedding plants so is near to neutral. As the hydrangea needs transfering, plant in soil not pH adjusted (acidic here on the PNW) or bump up to an oversized pot with acidic soil compounded for conifers or azalea. As the pH non uniformly penetrates the established root ball you get this effect. It is uneven because new roots grow into a new soil pH and roots well within the root ball are less effected. For undisturbed plants growing in the yard in acidic soil use a cup to quite unevenly spread "lines" of dolomite lime in the leaf drip zone during fall. It can yield this effect for a few years until the pH becomes homogenous. 'Mathlida Gutges' loves to give this effect with soil transfer. I purchased a "blue" Bay City cross of it called 'Galilee' from a gift flower greenhouse sale table with past prime flowers. I bumped up the plant to a tub and the next year it threw a range of neat light to dark blue colors. Each head was on soild color If you push the blue effect too? far with 'Mathllda Gutges ... get happy. With already acidic soil, one standard aluminum sulphate treat gave this effect, which stayed unchanged for 10 years. We were Infamous on the street and called the "Hydrangea House". We left the two deep blue 'Mathlida Gutges" on either side of the White arch. And our multicolored plant above was taken as a division from the right side one. Hydrangea Plus grower calls this old florist variety "The Chamelon". The stems can be weepy with the heavy flower load until it gets well established. This is a small cutting past prime 'Mathlida Gutges' grown in the same potting soil above. There's a range of pink flower potentials shown within this plant. Whatever color result you get you can't lose. Think you might already have an incorrectly or unlabeled 'Mathlida Gutges' already? My florets always have that very light colored tiny "eye spot" in the center. Many of my other hydrangea do not. The flowers starts light greenish or white color in the center until they open.