Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas Going Pink - August 2023

Our front yard hydrangeas have never had a better year than this year.  Full stop.  They are covered with blooms.  And those blooms are big and full.  Leading to the WORST flopping that we've ever hard - even with the large Limelight Hydrangeas that have been the most productive over the years.

First...the Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas.  They are starting to 'turn' with pink showing up on the flowers - you can see one of them below:

I've tracked this 'turning' over the years - in 2017 it started in July, in 2018 it was in September, same in 2019 and in 2022 (last year), I only documented them when they were in full color - October. 

This year it is late August when they're starting to add pink to the big, white mophead blooms.

As for the flopping, it appears that the removal of the Norway Maple has changed so much up there and that I'll have to deal with them this Summer (trying to string them up) and that my pruning technique will have to change starting next Spring to encourage more upright growth. 

That's something that needs to go my 2024 to-do list:  prune the front hydrangeas differently to encourage more upright, vase-shaped growth to avoid the flopping that I'm seeing this year.