One of the benefits of working at a plant nursery was getting free plants, not just from my employers, who were very generous indeed, but from customers as well. Though we did do a fair amount of retail trade, the main thrust of the business was wholesale. The majority of the customers came to pick up their plants, and often combined visits to multiple companies, so that while we helped load the truck, we got to admire the plants from other nurseries. This admiration often resulted in sentences dear to my heart like, “Oh, do you like that? Here, take one for yourself!” or “Isn’t that beautiful – you should probably have one of those.” One such exchange, in about 2003 or so, saw me come home with a new kind of macrophylla hydrangea that was supposed to bloom all summer, even up here, where the late spring frosts do a number on typical hydrangeas of this type, killing the buds, which form on old wood. You can find them everywhere now, but at that time “Endless Summer” hydrangeas were brand new to the market, so getting one, especially free, was wonderful.
Unfortunately, for those of us in zone 5 and colder, the promise of lots of blooms has just not happened. If you check out message boards and blogs, you find universal complaints about the lack of flowers on “Endless Summer” hydrangeas. It has been probably 3 years since the last time I saw a flower on mine, and as I recall, there was just one that year. But over the weekend I noticed that we have a bloom! I’m going to really enjoy it since it may be the only one I get- provided it doesn’t get eaten by a bear before it opens all the way, which would not surprise me one bit.
So, why do I keep this plant? Even without the “endless” supply of flowers, it is quite pretty, and it’s in a spot where I’m not looking to put anything else right now. 
And I can take photos like this one, where at least the green is endless.
