Of the series, that is my favorite too. And yes, the shade of color may shift a bit based on the pH level of the soil in which it was originally planted versus your soil's pH level.

The selection of always pink pictures or the lack of blue pictures may be coincidence (their soil or the potting mix they use is alkaline or lacks aluminum), or it may be a way to keep expenses low or it may imply that the blue-ish shade is not that great looking.

The wholesaler claims that it is hardy to Zone 5a but take that with a grain of salt, especially on new introductions. ES bragged about being good in Zone 4 and I do not see that claim often now. To the nurseries, the claim means that the plant will survive winters (but the stems will not) so, in very cold zones like 5, all growth will come from the crown every year. If planted on the ground and given 3-4" of mulch, the shrub should grown back.

In their website, they state "Flower color is affected by pH. For blue flowers, the soil must be more acidic and for pink flowers the soil must be more alkaline. Apply aluminum sulfate to the soil to encourage blue flowers."

Here is a link that might be useful: Cityline Paris

The main advantage of the Cityline series to me is their compactness combined with being free-flowering, setting buds as far down as right against the crown. As long as you can get the old stems to leaf out, you should get tons of florets in the Spring. Also, since most of them are so short, just throw a pile of mulch or leaves on them around December and they should be fine outside.

Some of the names perform better than others, I've heard (e.g. complaints about Berlin). In northern areas, I seem to see Venice sold the most - I picked one up that had been overwintered outdoors and had even sustained some freeze damage this Spring, and now it has 20+ buds on it!

Hi, I live in zone 6b.. 7 lately and I have both Cityline Paris and Venice. Hubby says we have neutral soil and our Paris is still the same vibrant bubble gum pink as when we bought it about 3 years ago but the flowers are smaller each year and it is not overly blessed with blooms, a couple here and there. We haven't treated the soil for any of our hydrangeas (yet) other than the few that are planted very close to cement foundations or stone walls which ensure the flowers stay pink so they are all doing what they wish in the color department. Paris is situated under some huge very old Osage Orange trees and gets quite a bit of shade.

My Venice on the other hand is outstanding!! We bought ours about 3 years ago and it is getting more purple each year. Some years if we water alot with our alkaline water it will turn a very saturated pinky purple still beautiful but always with very deep pigmentation, I t rooted some cuttings from Venice and have a small plant (5 cuttings together) this time planted in deep shade. The only complaint is that the sun does a bleaching job on the gorgeous purple (especially this year) but it is absolutely loaded with flowers, stays compact and has very dark green leaves. A real winner in my yard!

I also have Berlin which is a nice plant but the flowers are sparse and about the size of a baseball and I would say that Berlin is situated the best, getting dappled sun off and on all day..I wouldn't really recommend Berlin though..we also have a couple others from the Cityline series but it's too soon to judge them.

Here are a few pictures:

Here I caught Venice towards the end of the day making it more of a cobalt blue..

and with more light showing it's daytime color..

and Paris this year with small but still vibrant pink flowers..

and Paris when we first bought it with absolutely huge flowers..

{{gwi:1009321}}

Donna

Hi,
I'm a little late to this forum, but excited about the Cityline Venice! I live in zone 6a, and this past winter temps dipped to -30ð! All 5 of my Venice hydrangeas survived very unusual temps for our area. I supplied extra mulch around the roots, probably around 5" total, when I heard the temperature was going to get so low. They are beautiful right now! They are not blooming & most likely will not because I'm sure the buds that set in the fall are dead. However, they will bloom again next year, & I'm thrilled they survived such a terrible winter, many nights -20 & -30 with very little warmup during the day.

My Venice has shot back to 2' with emerald green foliage but no buds. Will throw a pile of leaves on it this fall. I don't mind that it's not blooming because it's sited between a couple 8' tall perennial hibiscus and one smaller rosemallow variety.

Has it ever bloomed or is it just this year that its withholding the show?