There are a few who are. Follow the link to a Bella Anna Post where you can see a few people who have it. I saw it side by side an Invincibelle Spirit. Both were starting to bloom but barely. I need to go back again to compare the pinl colors.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bella Anna Post

My 2-gal has grown to about 4' high in the center and has about 15-20 blooms golfball to baseball size, and of course they are still green. It's under a high tree canopy, but still gets mostly sun from about 11-5.

I have been very underwhelmed with 'Invincibelle' and don't expect 'Bella Anna' to be any better. The leaves are small, ugly, and scraggly, the flowerheads aren't too great and VERY small compared to 'Annabelle' or macrophyllas, the pink is not too pleasant, and the plant's vigor and health have been lacking, relative to my great successes with 'Annabelle'. I'd take a pure 'Annabelle' or a pink macrophylla 10 times out of 10 over 'Invincibelle' or 'Bella Anna.'

Thanks Luis, that post was the reason I thought about getting Bella Anna, but on reflection, the flowers don't seem to thrill me. I guess I like the Big petalled balls that one gets with other hydrangeas. I have 3 peppermnints that I got this year, and they are doing pretty well.

Springwood, thanks for your details. For a 4 ft plant I would wish for baseball size and bigger so I don't think B.A. is going to do it for me.

Thank you everyone for your posts!

Flowers that are still green are going to get larger before they color up. Likely to flower more reliably in NE IL than other hydrangeas.

planted on a month ago very dark green foliage but has not grown any-but covered with neon pink flowers which are small-have to give it year or so....

It's so hard to wait! I want instant gratification =0)

Hee hee hee! I hear you!

I went back to the plant nursery that I visited near the end of May. It had both Bella Anna and Invincibelle Spirit side by side. The plants were about 2' high (hard to tell with uneven terrain) and the blooms were about to open. I visited yesterday and was surprised with the view:

Most of the shrubs had blooms that had matured rather quickly. Below is what Bella Anna looked when pink (I found two shrubs with a few pink blooms):

The next photo shows a pink Invincibelle Spirit:

The sepals looked small compared to mopheads. Not sure when compared to Annabelle. The nursery was quite a ways from my home. By the time I returned, my brain had rebooted and I could no longer compare the bloom size of those two against my Annabelle and Incrediball. The sepals and blooms on the pictures may get larger as the shrub matures. It would help to have photos of larger/older shrubs.

As these new introductions' blooms mature, they turn beige or sandy in color. A few looked ugly and a few looked white-ish. But I was surprised at how quick the blooms matured though.

Incrediball specimens looked nice and white. None had started to change colors.

Wow, thanks for the pics Luis, and the descriptions. I don't feel like I'm missing anything. I had 2 limelights an annabelle, and an endless summer. I added another ES, 3 peppermint, and just the other day, a Vanilla Strawberry. I would like to get the little lime hydrangea but I'm not sure I have room. I would love to have a yard full of hydrangeas but some areas have too much shade and others too much sun. I guess I'll just have to lurk and see how everyone else's are doing. As I mentioned before, I have such a hard time waiting to give them time to grow. I plant them and then want results quickly.

I saw Little Lime too; the leaves and the blooms did not impress me. Something had been muching on the leaves so they did not look as pristine as the other potted hydrangeas. Some blooms were still in the broccoli stage but one or two plants had fully opened grren blooms.

From afar, the green blooms resembled a mophead's though. But if you looked closely then the blooms resembled a panicle... you really had to get up close. This turned me off as I like the shape of those blooms too. Since this is a new intro and these were young shrubs, I decided to keep an eye on pictures of older Lime Lights to see if, with age, the blooms look more like Limelight's.

Now my Bella Anna blooms are full size, about softball, same size as Annabelle's. The outermost ones have flopped over but not quite to the ground. They are dark red with a hint of magenta, almost burgundy and very stunning because there's nothing out there comparable to their size and color. I have mine stuck between 2 Annabelles for contrast - all plants are 1-2 years. I would post a pic but I don't have enough time to fool around with electronics. I would of course be most impressed if by maturity the plant would grow as tall as a mature Annabelle but we'll see!

I hope it works out for you. It sounds like the plant has a great start.

I was interested in ordering some of the Bella Annas until I discovered it comes from the Endless Summer folks. The year the Endless Summer hydrangeas came out I put six in a bed - cared for them exactly according to directions but after the first year if I got one (1) blossom from each plant, period, each year I considered myself lucky. I had lots of healthy green leafed plants but no blossoms.

After three full years, I ripped them out and put in peonies which has done extremely well.

I understand that in warm climates the Endless Summers perform according to it's advertisment but in colder climates such as mine, which was after all the target of advertisment, I have yet to run across a single person who felt they lived up to the hype. Most had the same experience I had with them.

Which is why I decided against the Bella Anna - I don't trust the hype from the Endless Summer people. I will keep an eye on this forum though and if a reasonable amount of people in around the zone 5 areas have a good experience with Bella Anna, I will give one a try.

Different species than the rest of the Endless Summer collection. One could argue doesn't really belong, but it will bloom reliably down to zone 3. Something the others usually won't do.

I had purchased 2 of the Endless Summer Bella Anna's last summer and planted them where my Anna bells have been so happy for years, and of course NO blooms. I also purchased two of the pink version of the Annabelle, I believe they are Invincabells - well they may flop a little but both of them are in full bloom. Stupidly I let my nursery guy talk me into buying another Endless Summer version in the Spring of this year, and I am sure it won't bloom next year as well. I have done everything possible to make my original Endless Summer's bloom, and yes, last year they did bloom, but that is the unusual - they bloom every 5th year if I am lucky. The plants are large and healthy, but no blooms. The Annabelle version is no better, and not reliable as the true Annabelle - that is for sure.

Just an update on Bella Anna...

You can still find a few nurseries carrying these as growers still seem to be producing them. And, the product still has its own page hidden on ES's website. But, the product is no longer shown alongside its ES brethren or acknowledged in its product listing. So I guess we can assume it's getting the axe, a.k.a. dropped from the product line.

Personal observations over the last 3+ years are that:

1. The plant does not grow as fast as Annabelle. New shoots from the ground are several inches shorter.
2. The blooms are not quite as large (overall) as Annabelle.
3. Old wood stems are not much sturdier than new wood. Old wood with new shoots will fall to the ground under the weight of the new shoots (minus blooms).
4. New shoots coming from old wood will randomly die off throughout the growing season.
5. Nursery specimens have looked leggy and disheveled, which doesn't make the consumer want to buy it.

Dr. Mike Dirr's commented in his recent paper about breeding, selection and marketing simply that is has "stems that do not support the inflorescences."

My conclusion is that what the folks at ES probably agreed on: There really is no pink Annabelle.

With the awful LI winter we had, I have 'Bella Anna' 2 years in the ground on an eastern exposure in the shade of a dogwood. This shrub suffered no winter die back or dead stems this season and leafed out well. Awaiting the pink flowering heads to appear. I guess our weather simulated weather in Chicago because the plant is happy. Warmer winter 1st year it was planted had many dead stems and new stems emerged to make the flowers. I didn't notice any color change from pink to whitish pink last year.

very unimpressive plant-compared to the white versions....

I think that once the growers run out of tags, they'll stop propagating the plants.

I happen to like my 'Bella Anna' which is now about 3 years old in the ground. Initial winter into spring, I noticed I had to cut it down to the ground (in the spring); then new shoots came up and it had a few pink flowers (ball shaped). They did flop a little for me. Next year (year 2) had more stems and more flowers with less removal of the dead stems in the early springtime (around mid March here). This past winter was one for the record books and while other hydrangeas were with 50% dead stems, 'Bella Anna' took the cold in stride and I had NO DIEBACK of stems and when I looked yesterday while taking photos of plants in bloom, I noticed in addition to more stems (than previous years) the plant is covered with flower buds!! I hope this is a spectacular year for this shrub.
I wanted a smooth hydrangea that was pink in color and not the hugeness of 'Annabelle' for the area I had set for it. It seems to be very happy under the shade of a hybrid dogwood on an eastern exposure. If I have time later, I will take a photo of it.