Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nikko Blue'
I’m sure most of you are aware of my Hydrangea Obsession from all the gushing I did last season about my Hydrangea ‘Limelight’. Well he’s not quite ready to put on his display yet but it won’t be much longer, maybe this time next month. However some of the others are starting to show signs of what’s to come such as ‘Nikko Blue’ above. This plant has been in my garden since the fall of 2007 and last year I got one bloom. However he’s making up for this spring with at least 5 or 6 buds forming with this being the largest. This is a large leaved shrub that blooms on new wood and dies to the ground each winter. It grows quite fast once spring arrives.
Unknown lacecap Hydrangea
This is my second oldest Hydrangea and the name is long since forgotten along with the tag. The flowers are a deep blue but sometimes they vary to a lavender pink depending on my soil from season to season. It blooms off of old & new wood which works out well if I get too enthusiastic with trimming. It isn’t as thirsty as the mopheads but does need some supplemental watering during the heat of summer. It prefers afternoon shade too.
(From upper left across & down: Forever & Ever 'Pink', 'Pinky-Winky', 'The Swan' and 'Little Honey'
My four latest Hydrangeas are looking good but no buds yet. Three Forever & Evers were added to the garden last spring in an area that was getting too much afternoon sun. So I moved them last fall and they are all doing much better this year. ‘Pinky-Winky’ was added last fall after seeing how great it looked in Joy’s garden. It has a great shape to it already and I love the burgundy branches. Can’t wait till she blooms! ‘The Swan’ and ‘Little Honey’ (a dwarf oakleaf) were added this spring. This is not the original plant of ‘Little Honey’, it croaked so Bluestone Perennials sent me a new one after I emailed them a quite note with the receipt attached. This one came in the mail today and it was much bigger with more foliage. I made to sure to add plenty of compost to the hole this time just in case it was a drainage problem. Their only requirement is well draining soil and my native soil is heavy clay. With Peony season nearing an end (thanks to the rainfall we had yesterday) I’m looking forward to the Hydrangeas. 
note: I kept the bare twig of the possibly dead Oakleaf Hydrangea ‘Little Honey’ and replanted it elsewhere. Who knows it might bounce back, it was worth taking a chance. The roots looked healthy so time will tell…
