The only caveat I know is that they prefer partial shade - about 3 hours of morning sun- (and having said that, I will admit to knowing several hydrangeas which are in full sun and apparently happy). They don't seem to like a solid clay soil (not much does), but clay amended with compost or leaf mould suits them fine. Baby hydrangeas should be watered whenever there is a week without an inch of rain, winter and summer, for their first year. Older hydrangeas are more tolerant provided you give them a very deep mulch, although they are appreciative of weekly watering during summer droughts. Because we do have the occasional blizzard in NVa, I recommend a deep straw or pine-needle mulch from the end of December to the beginning of March. The only hydrangea I've ever lost, was after the blizzard in '87 (and that poor plant had lived for 30 years in the poorest gravelly-clay soil, with no extra food or water).

Why not try a few for yourself, rather than relying on someone else's word...

We've moved back here, I've planted 'Nikko', 2 oakleafs, another variety, "Angel something" that died very quickly, & I've just planted (about 2 weeks ago) 'Lady in Red'. I love hydrangeas, & even though I can keep up w/ the water requirements, I think this heavy clay soil is too much for them (I'm working on it, have a compost pile)...Linda

One of the problems with giving specific names, is that so many H. macrophylla are grown from "florist" pots... or have been around the house through many decades [and/or owners], with the name long lost. I have three that came to me as gifts - the ubiquitous florist's pot, labeled only as being H. macrophylla. I also have Nikko, which is showing itself as excellently adaptable; blooming it's first year and every year since; thriving in spite of being much too close to several oak trees. Nikko, BTW, seems more tolerant of underwatering than the florist types (and this surely was a droughty summer to discover which plant could do with the least watering). Nikko's blooms are half again larger and fuller than the other plants'. DH brought Endless Summer last year. It has not bloomed yet. ES is demanding of water, happiest with a soaking at least every third day and drooping if it doesn't get enough. The first Peewee didn't survive a winter, my fault for not mulching sufficiently; the second is only a year old, growing but not yet blooming.

Like Linda, I've tried several of the named cultivars, and I wasn't especially impressed -but to be fair, that was during the long drought years, and they likely weren't watered sufficiently. I'm not so fond of hydrangeas as to be willing to water them instead of other plants I like better. The end result was simply that I gave most of the named varieties away, to people who were willing to take more care in catering to their thirst. However, I still like hydrangeas - I just don't want to provide the extra watering our recent dry summers require. So, I'm on the watch for plants that are sturdy and strong bloomers, rather than named... a neighbor has a gorgeous hydrangea, right beside her brick home. She says it's been there since they bought the house, over 50 years ago. It consistently blooms a dark royal purple... I plan to try rooting some cuttings.

Over the years I've fertilized them, not fertilized them, cut them back, not cut them back, amended the soil (yes, they were planted in clay which is all I have in my yard but 15 or so years ago I amended the soil for a rose garden, which I later realized didn't get nearly enough sun) so I moved it and put in the hydrangeas. I don't know the names of any of them. By the way, the Oak Leaf has given me some pretty respectible blooms.

So, I understand your questions about what is best for you area. I'm about two hours south of you and I'm not really sure what grows well here either although when I look around at everyone elses house I see beautiful hydrangeas. Maybe its just that we dont' talk nicely enough to them. I'll admit, I've thought about just pulling the little, you-know-whats up but I've never said it out loud.

Ann