Probably but I always go to such pains to make sure nothing happens that it is ridiculous. I had one about 3" bigger than those which I started putting out in a bright but shady spot (indirect sun) with little wind for a few days. The leaves were just opening and looked tiny, frail, light greenish. Then I moved it to where it got a few hours of real early morning sun for a few days and then to their final planting location. I have done the same with other mail-ordered small shady shrubbery too.

The only exception is when the shrub arrives with no dirt; then I plant it in its final planting location asap. But depending on what it is and if it needs shade, I may build something to temporarily provide the shade.

These steps do not add up to more than a week for me.

That sounds like a good idea! :) I think I'll do that, keep them in a sheltered location for a little bit then "step up" the amount of light they get. The area they'll be planted in gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Thanks so much for the advice!

How is your baby hydrangea doing, by the way? I assume it's not a baby anymore and I sure hope it's doing well! I'd love to know how fast it's grown!

That was several years ago so it is getting to be between 1-2'. Still shutdown for the winter along with half of everything else though. But that means about half is also waking up.

In the Fall, I was actually thinking it and other shrubs would be fully leafed out by now because during the last two years, winters here were mild so everything leafed out or bloomed extremely early (January). But this year, we had a lot of temp zig zags and those bushes that leafed out or bloomed early had their new growth killed by a cold snap. Forsythia is now blooming though. Flowering Quince tried to start blooming at the end of Jan but a cold snap in February killed the blooms and it is now leafing out with a few blooms again. Roses here are leafing out for the 2nd time. The early blooming camellias got delayed and are now trying to bloom. And the hydrangeas? Still snoring but... I saw an oakleaf in another town west of me with leaf out. Hopefully that means I will see leaf out soon as well. How's the weather in GA?

Oh I hope your hydrangeas start leafing out soon! :) I'm sorry to hear about the cold damage to your plants though. :( That sucks. I know what you mean about the crazy Winter! We had a VERY cold Winter (For Georgia anyway!) and this past month the temperatures have been all over the place. We'll have stretches of days in the 70s with nights in the 50s then it'll get down to the high-20s and I have to run around making sure all my plants are okay.

The past two nights we had temps around 26-28 and I have two nikko blues (Not my babies, but they're still young bushes, maybe 1-2 feet tall) that I covered with blankets. One suffered a tiny bit of cold damage on some leaves though despite my best efforts. - Fortunately it was only like 2-3 leaves so nothing serious. According to weather.com and accuweather's temperature predictions for the next month though, it looks like things may be finally smoothing out. I sure hope so! I'm tired of having to worry about Spring frosts.