Richmond’s weather tends to be different than ours. I’m slightly northeast as the crow flies from Richmond, but on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay. Both the Bay and the Atlantic effect our weather.
I long ago learned the only thing consistent about DelMarVa weather is its’ inconsistency :)
My daughter’s yard grows like gangbusters while the same plants poke along here. She looked at my raised rose garden and pointed at a little piece of ivy that I had planted to trail over the edge of the wall and said, “You didn’t plant that there ON PUROSE, did you?”
I have an Oak Leaf Hydrangea that I have been nursing along for 15 years. It’s about 2 feet high. She has an Oak Leaf Hydrangea that she planted 3 years ago and it covers a whole wall of her house!
Warm weather, rain, and a long growing season will do a lot for a garden!
I get the first to, but not the third. And I’m keeping an eye on that ivy, just in case. ;)