Climbing hydrangeas struggling

I recently purchased two climbing hydrangeas to plant against a large north facing wall. They get a bit of sun in the day but mainly it's cool and shady. One plant seems to be doing a bit better than the other but they're definitely struggling as the leaves are turning brown.

I'm new to gardening so any thoughts on where I'm going wrong would be much appreciated.

Some background:
The soil here is very chalky (we're in the SE). I dug very deep holes to plant them in. Originally I used compost from the garden bin to plant them but then realised it's all grass cuttings which I expect isn't very good for them?

I later dug them up and mixed some compost recommended from the garden centre with some good garden soil and a little of the compost from grass cuttings.

I water them every other day with the hose in the evening.

The garden is also a little windy as we're up a hill but I wouldn't say overly exposed. Our hope is the plants will cover a very large wall so any tips on how to get them to grow faster would also be great! Many thanks

 

Hi, Welcome to the Forum,

Not a plant we have grown, but looking at the ususal places it sounds like you have done everything right, just that sometimes they can be slow to put on new top growth.
Bit like some other plants which seem to spend the first season getting its roots sorted before bothering to grow upwards.

 

Mine is definitely slow, growing on a north facing wall, it also gets cold winds from the East, probably too dry in summer and is a martyr to snails. It will get there though.
Mine was bought as Schizophragma hydrangeoides and is now Hydrangea hydrangeoides.

 

They don't like chalky soil, so they're unlikely to thrive if that's what you have.
They also take a while to establish and grow, and need a good start to achieve that, with good soil and plenty of water. Once established, which will take a year or so, they get very big.

 

I have one against a back fence. The first couple of years it didn't do a great deal, but this spring it jumped into action and is growing fast, so I'm with the guys who say they start off slow above ground to put some good below ground growth on first. Mine is in good soil too. I also suspect your chalk may slow it down considerably, even to the point where you may never see it thrive, only survive.

And yes, these things get huge, I'm already regretting putting mine where I have. A few years down the line and I suspect i'll be constantly pruning it. Beautiful climbing shrub though.