Thats quite a few selections, thanks for the new listings.

Definitely a sucker for Hydrangea paniculata myself.

Not only have I not heard much about new ones coming out but no one around here seems to be stocking anything but ES and a few unnamed varities. I ask at our Lowes yesterday why and she said because their keeping with thier best sellers for this area.

Lowes over here has some "generic" (unnamed) hydrangeas. I have noticed that in a(out a month or so they will bring more and these will be named varieties, usually from the Together & Ever Series.

This post was edited by luis_pr on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 16:37

Lucky you, Luis! The Lowe's over by me (NE Dallas area on NW Hwy) said that they probably WON'T be getting anymore in... bummer! I did see some 'Merritt's Supreme', and the ubiquitous 'Hydrangea X' unnamed types, but they looked VERY puny and struggly so I passed on them. Besides, our rental office has a couple in some pots outside the front door so I can probably sweet-talk the management out of those plants when they need to come out of the pots and settle into a permanent home. I know that they would probably just get dumped into the compost heap once the show's over and they outgrow the pots. I cannot stand 'plant abuse' so may as well rescue them and get them for free! Free is good, right? I did that with some very sad-looking Asclepias curassavica (red milkweed) that were being thrown away at HD last summer. They recovered in my garden and bloomed again, and they came back strong for me this year. May as well do the same with the 'Merritt's' :-)

'Bobo' was on my list of contenders for the front bed this year, as was 'Little Lime' and 'Bombshell'. I settled on the 'Bombshell'. Here's hoping! But I saw 'Bobo' on line and I think it was introduced in 2011 or 2012... I don't remember right off, but it wasn't new for 2013 as far as I saw. Still, it is GORGEOUS in the pictures! So was the 'Strawberry Sundae', and I had considered trying to hunt it down as another contender, but decided to go with the white-flowering 'Bombshell' to coordinate with my variegated Pittosporum and Hosta 'Albo-marginata'. The white blooms would really pop in the spot where I planted the 'Bombshell' whereas the pink might not show off as well.

The link for the 'Revolution' didn't work for me-- got to the BHG site and got the 'Sorry not found' error message despite a cut n' paste. I just typed in 'revolution hydrangea' in the BHG site's search box, and found it right off in the search results. And my goodness, that is a real beauty! Those colors are wild-- I love it! Is that the 'antique' stage, or the new bloom? The 'Plum Passion' is interesting with those purple leaves. The color is intriguing. I'd be interested to see what it looks like in bloom, even though they said that the foliage is the main draw. Sorry, but if I plant hydrangeas, I'm planting for flowers. Interesting leaves are nice, but I don't think of foliage first and foremost when I think hydrangeas. If those 'medium sized flowers' are also pretty, it might get a second thought.

Now, the 'Midnight Magic' crape myrtle is catchy-- but this isn't the CM forum, LOL! Nonetheless, I do love crape myrtles and they look lovely in a shared yard with hydrangeas also blooming!

Thanks for sharing those, Luis!

~megan_anne

You're welcome. I got one of those black CMs last fall from HD!

Everlasting series will be available widely at Home Depots in 2013, according to Plants Nouveau...

Beware, Plum Passion is a Hydrangea Aspera and would only be intended for semi-tropical regions.

Speaking of Monvrovia, how about mac. Enchantress? It looks like a black-stemmed version of Let's Dance Moonlight, probably has ES somewhere in the lineage.

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/3443/enchantress-hydrangea.php

This post was edited by Springwood_Gardens on Fri, Apr 19, 13 at 17:39

With so many new cultivars being introduced each year, it is difficult to sort the good from the not-so-good. A reliable guide is the RHS AGM scheme (Award of Garden Merit). They have just confirmed new AGMs for 2012 on 25 hydrangeas after extensive trials. See http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/Plant-trials-and-awards/Plant-awards/AGM-plants
Interestingly, the RHS has also withdrawn its AGM award from 13 hydrangeas which they consider have been superceded.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heritage Hydrangeas

How about Ball Hort's new entries?

Macrophyllas:

Cotton Candy - reddish lacecap compact 2-3'

http://www.ballhort.com/Growers/plant_info.aspx?phid=034005889001315&dispmode=

Savant - pale blue to pink to green 3-6'

http://www.ballhort.com/Growers/plant_info.aspx?phid=034000859028634&dispmode=

Savant was talked about last year, grows a few huge stems with large leaves and extremely large blooms. Says zone 7 so I'd pick a nice planter. It also says it can bloom year round if cared for indoors. Not sure how they defied the whole deciduous aspect. I'd love to play with one either way, though!

Proven Winners has also chimed in with a slew of new releases...

On the Oakleaf front, we have the Gatsby's series:

Gatsby's Gal: like Snow Queen, only smaller
Gatsby's Star: similar to Snowflake
Gatsby's Moon: similar to Harmony, supposedly improved

Now the paniculatas...

Fire Light: much like Mystical Flame (also fairly new); maybe smaller??

Macrophylla...

Paraplu: similar to Together and Doublicious (not sure how much so)

Let's Dance Diva: lacecap/mop combo with huge sepals akin to paniculata Great Star that come in pink. 24-36"
Let's Dance Rhapsody Blue: compact 24-36"

Serrata....

Tiny Tuff Stuff: only 2' tall!

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The Winner? Let's Dance Diva!
(see attached photo)

I saw enchantress today at a Tidewater Va nursery and it is beautiful but very pricey

the Lowes in our area is selling a hydrangea-red Ribbons and the tag says in small print monred. But this can not be Pretty n Red as it has Black Stems. It is a pink mop, do you suppose it is Nigra???

Try posting a picture of Red Ribbon now and then maybe again when it blooms? It seems these have been popping up at select Lowe's for a number of years, yet I can't find a picture of one anywhere.

In the meantime, look what I got:

What and where?

Everlasting Opal, Revolution, and Harmony (the "older" Novalis series - pre-plants nouveau)...

Several places near me have been carrying them. Ironically the location nearest me (Penn Hills L&G) had the most and at the best price (about $20 for a #2). The grower was located somewhere in Ohio - can't remember whom at the moment.

The ones in circulation under Novalis are: Opal, Harmony, Jade, and Revolution. Haven't seen any others yet...

I took a pic of Red Ribbon will try to post. I think that it is Oregon Pride.

I just bought 2 one gal. Bobos for the very full sun front shrub border. Hope they turn out well. Planted 2 bombshells 2 yrs ago. One is doing great now.. of course no blooms yet.. it has plenty of moisture and is in partial sun. The other one is looking pretty tough..in more sun exposure.. . A little lamb in the same area is doing much better. Planted 3 Strawberry Vanillas a couple of yrs ago on our perimeter border near a couple of blueberries and they look like they are starting to take off.. Reluctant to plant more new macrophylli because of our sandy soil, but the 3 endless summers I planted a couple of yrs ago appear to be coming along so far. Hope to add more info later.

Just a followup from last year...

Let's Dance Rhapsody blue is floating around in 2-gallon pots sourced from Willoway Nurseries Inc. in Ohio. I dropped $20 to replace an ES that got hit exceptionally hard by the winter and has done nothing

Looks like RB is going to end up "blurple". :)

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Also, Lowe's is once again selling Red Ribbons/Monred, a.k.a Red 'n Pretty. It might be genetically similar or identical to Oregon Pride, but these all need to be treated like the Merritt's series as they originated from such. These have not been bud hardy much at all and I do not recommend them for zone 6. Additionally, Pink Ribbons is Monink a.k.a. Pink 'n Pretty and dates back to Charme/Compacta, which is also not very hardy. Furthermore, PnP shifts to solid blue very easily, which makes it useless as a pink or red specimen. I've YET to find or see a good remontant OR bud-hardy mac that blooms pink/red, reliably, in zone 6.

This post was edited by Springwood_Gardens on Thu, May 15, 14 at 14:10

Have you tried any of the new black stemmed varieties?

Springwood_Gardens, what happened with PnP that you said "PnP shifts to solid blue very easily"? That may appeal to me to try in my alkaline soil and mild winters.

Nope, no black stems. Enchantress is at a local place $45 for a two gallon, with only 8 or so canes. For now, they can shove that. I grow Zorro, but it's yet to bloom and won't this year because it got whacked like everything else.

Luis, PnP took only one winter in native soil conditions (in that particular spot) to completely shift to blue. It looked a lot like Nikko, quite honestly, with the bloom not being as large (this was the only bloom in 3 years). No light pastel or deep blue, just a flat easter egg blue. Its stems and foliage are thick and don't wilt very easily.

If you lived here I'd sell it to you mine for $10. It's sitting in a garbage bag in a 7-gallon pot. Probably in a collection that I'll end up unloading on Craigslist otherwise.