The 'Limelight's and 'Pink Diamond's will not be a problem, in fact they will probably appreciate it and provide more blooms! The arborescens 'Annabelle' and the macrophyllas, ES & ES/BB should be fine. I grow them in sun in my Zone and they love it. I have never had leaf scorch on any of them. New plantings will need attention for moisture during the first couple of years, until the roots become well established and then can tolerate a period of drought, if well mulched or planted in moisture retentive soil. I have heavy clay soil and I do not ammend it when planting Hydrangeas. Endless Summer has survived as long as 7 weeks without rainfall or irrigation, without wilting. In your Zone, it should be less stressful for your plants.
I think I would plant some Chinese Wisteria, Japanese Honeysuckle and English Ivy along the fence and let your neighbor have loads of fun!
My next door occupants(not neighbors, by any measure!) did the same thing to me, by cutting down 3 large evergreen, Southern Magnolias. All of the Hydrangea macrophyllas & serratas, plus all of the perennials and Ferns have adapted and go on with their life. The only causality was a very large area of Peacock Moss, which is now green, instead of the usual blue hues.
Rb

Thanks you guys for the suggestions! The hydrangeas are all out front and I don't have a fence out there for anything to climb on. They are also planted on the south edge of my yard so I don't think there is much I can do to plant anything to shade them. The Pink Diamond and Limelight may give the ES a little shade. I don't know maybe I'll give some thought to rearranging things a bit if needed.

As far as the tree - he actually rather excitedly told me about it last fall and said that he thought I'd be happy because with the extra sun I could grow more roses (I have over 120 right now..) and that he thought it dropped too much litter. Well yeah the roses are nice, but I was enjoying that little bit of shade garden. And that tree gave the front of my house a fair amount of shade from the hot afternoon sun as well. I'm sure my cooling costs will go up this year. Ultimately, it's his property and tree and he can do whatever he wants. He is a nice person and I don't have any reason to dislike him. But he is very perticular about that darn lawn and I have a hard time thinking about that large tree coming down just because it left a few pinecones on the lawn. I guess to sum it up yeah, I'm disappointed the tree is gone, but really whatever - there is nothing I can do about it but make sure my plants don't fry.

Thanks again for the help!

I have only a Snowy Mountain Hydrangea tree and it called for FULL sun. Not sure about the various hydrangea plants. My guess they will do just fine in full sun. You may be best to consult with your local Cooperative Extension or a nursury.

Good luck!

I agree most should adapt but need a bit of extra water and a good mulching.

Maybe plant a honeylocust. Kind of boring and over planted, but lawn does well under it and easy to clean up in fall so your neighbor should like it. Relatively fast growing.

Ted

I second Razorback33 & Ted's reassurance, twohuskies - your collection of Hs should do well as they, I believe do better in sun. I'm more amazed at how you got the ES to bloom satisfactorily in shade - I had to dig up mine a week ago & relocated to a sunnier site. I acquired my BB last season and was told to find a partial-sunny site for her.

The only experience I have losing a protective shade tree was for my 17y/o-Mother's Day Nikko that I wanted to keep for sentimental reasons. I installed an arbor over her and planted a fast growing Sweet Autumn Clematis - result was amazing, SA clem climbed thickly and draped over with her tiny white & sweet scented blossoms by Sept, making my Nikko, covered with maturing blooms, look like a bride under the arbor!!!

Also recently planted an absolutely gorgeous 'Royal Raindrop' burgundy colored crabapple tree that bears pea-size little plum-colored fruits for my bird friends. Promises never to grow wayward & throw suckers, unlike her many cousins and only to 20ft tall and beautiful delicate mauvish-pink blossoms appears in early May! For whatever it's worth ...

Best of luck to a sunnier season!!!

I live in No.California (sunny) and bough dark bright pink H. (no name) in local Costco in March and planted them in the sun (mid-day, afternoon). First leaves edges turned brown, then lots of them scorched and flowers turned brown. They have still green buds coming up on stems and flowers are coming, but I am afraid flowers will turn brown. Nice dark green folliage is gone.

Should I replant? Feed?
I have brown thumb!
Thanks

Full sun until late afternoon but, love to plant some sort of pink hydrangeas