Both Twist and Shout and ES original do fine for me here. I'd give them time to settle in. IME most plants behave differently in their first full season or two than they will over time. As an example, my ES original was pink in its first season, though my soil is acid enough for blueberries and rhodoendrons to be happy. The second season it was part pink and part blue, and it has been blue since then as the roots moved into the native soil.

If the nursery conditions weren't the same, the plants will be arriving in your garden in different condition - the potting soil may be different, the plants may be different ages, the root development may not be the same. Gardening is one of my life lessons in patience.

Thank you for your kind reminder! I was hoping for similar effect as the Twist-n-Shout. I will wait it out and see. Hopefully it will come around with more buds!

nhbabs...did your ES plants die back this past winter? I'm hoping that they will be hardy enough as to not need protecting through our cold winter!

In zone 5, ES will almost always die back to the ground without protection. They'll come back from the roots, but you may or may not get decent blooming.

It sounds like you have it sited well, as they like an eastern exposure (morning sun).

My ES dies down to the ground every winter. It resprouts from the ground and blooms just fine starting sometime in the first half of July if I remember correctly and then continuing the rest of the summer. Mine gets bright shade most of the day, but sun from 9:00 until about noon or maybe 12:30.