Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas In Bloom - June 2022

This Spring, I planted a pair of Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas in our backyard in the north bed, behind the Weeping Nootka Cypress and right in a colony with a dwarf Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea that I moved over there a couple of seasons ago.  These two small Oakleaf Hydrangeas were from the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale this year.  As soon as I planted them, the dang rabbits started attacking them, so I kept a little ring of chicken wire around each of them.  That seemed to keep the foliage going and now we're seeing the first blooms.  See below for a photo of the two Ruby Slippers (in the back) showing their first, tall white blooms. 

Each of these get four-to-five feet wide, so they have quite a bit of spread yet to come.  But, I'm excited to see these first flowers.  I'm pretty sure that these are far earlier than they'll be in the coming years - and maybe that's due to the flush of growth ahead of the Morton Aboretum Sale has quickened their cycle this year. According to the listing at the Hinsdale Nursery, their bloom time is July and August, so I'm hoping to see these bloom for the coming weeks before they turn red (hence...their name:  Ruby Slippers).