topic Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom in Garden

Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Lilysmom1 — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 20:46:52 GMT

Hello gardening friends.

This is a question that comes up all the time. I thought I would make a separate post to discuss this. I have probably close to 50 hydrangeas in my gardens and I have good success. Here is my advice. Hope it helps.

Hydrangeas not blooming

Do you know what the name of your hydrangea is? If not, take a photo (when in bloom if possible ) and take it to a nursery (nursery, not a big box store) and ask what kind it is.

Hydrangeas prefer morning sun and shade in the high heat of the day. Some types cannot tolerate high heat at all and will look wilted in hot afternoon sun.

Does your hydrangea bloom on old wood, on new wood or on both? It is important to know this because it affects when you should prune it. I usually prune mine right after blooming. If you wait too long to prune, you could be pruning off next year’s buds. I only prune to shape mine.

As a rule of thumb, you should never prune more than 1/3 off a shrub at any time

I only fertilize hydrangeas in the Spring. In any event, do not fertilize after July 1. Many people believe fertilizer will help an ailing or struggling shrub. Not true. It can stress the shrub, especially in dry conditions. When you fertilize, (I use a granular slow release fertilizer) do it before a rain. Lightly dig around the drip line of the shrub, apply the fertilizer and lightly cover it with surrounding mulch. If it doesn’t rain. You need to water the shrub well so that it dissolves into the soil.

I use compost and mulched/shredded oak leaves (I have a mulcher and I use downed oak leaves to produce oak leaf mulch) around my shrubs, especially around hydrangeas and rhodos, when I plant them. They add nutrients back to the soil, help retain moisture and help with shrubs whose leaves turn yellow (chlorosis).

Finally, watering shrubs in times of extreme heat is a big help. Water deep, not often. A good rink once or twice a week is much better than watering every day. Shrubs starved or water for long periods of drought have difficulty producing flowers.

I have only had two hydrangeas in two decades that did not bloom well. One was Nikko Blue which is notorious for few blooms. The other was oakleaf hydrangea. After several years of catering to them, I simply got rid of them.They we’re taking up premium real estate in my garden for no purpose so it was an easy decision.

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Annabellethecat66 — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 21:37:01 GMT

I have a person who plants my flowers I order from QVC.

Maybe 3 years ago I bought that bloom stuff Roberta's sells.

I think she puts some on it. I've had really good luck with the one's they sell where he flowers are at least the size of my hand.

I've actually had delivery people ask me what they are called. I only know them as Hydrangeas. They are amazing.

I have friends who can grow everything. I can't.

When I used to shop to buy flowers, when checking out I'd say to the cashier,

"Listen...do you hear that?"

They'd say, "No..what is it?" I'd say, "That's the sound of the flowers saying, 'Don't let her buy me...I don't want to die'.

The cashier would think for a second and start laughing. But I was serious. The Gardner won't let me go near the flowers except but to admire from afar! Ha!

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Annabellethecat66 — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 21:38:27 GMT

@Lilysmom1 I so admire people like you who can grow things.😘

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Kachina624 — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 21:57:11 GMT

@Lilysmom1 Now I know why I never see hydrangeas here in the desert.

1. It's too hot

2. Sun is probably too intense at 6,000ft a!titude, even in the shade.

3. They'd take too much water which is very expensive and wasteful.

Too bad as I love them. The garden is beautiful this fall.

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

pieman — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 23:17:44 GMT

@Lilysmom1 All I know from experience is this, there are some that only bloom every other year.

They also like acid soil...

Also they really don't care for all day sun..

Since we moved back to Florida, I have to reprogram my gardening ways.

They so not like Florida sun, today I picked out the last 2 that still were green.

I put them in a pot and left them in the shade on the lanai in hopes of bringing them back to life,

Maybe mixing Muracid with water will give yours the jolt they need, or maybe as I said, they aren't the ones to bloom every year.....

Good luck with them,,

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Mom2Dogs — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 23:22:15 GMT

Thanks @Lilysmom1

My plant did not bloom this year, but got very big and green. I did not trim it all, and I am certain I did not trim last year because that year there was only 1 bloom. The year before I did trim it. I have been experimenting for a couple of years.

If 2023 is not better, I am pulling it out...thanks for all your garden tips.

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Pook — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 00:08:00 GMT

Growing up we had several different kinds and did absolutely nothing to them and they grew to about 6 ft high with lots of blooms. Now I could not get any to grow and bloom no matter what I do!! I used a special powder stuff for them as well as ph testing and treating but still nothing for 4 years since planting them and never had any blooms. A neighbor has blue and mauvey pink on the same 2 bushes. She does nothing but last year her son (who has a landscaping business) did trim them for the first time since they were planted several years ago and wow the blooms. They always bloom for them with nothing special done. I give up!!

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

781Florist — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 05:38:45 GMT

I worked at a flower shop that had a patch of dirt next to the stairs in the back. I was there through four owners, but one was a Korean lady who must have had a magic touch because she took Hydrangeas that went unsold and simply planted them in that stony soil (really, dirt!!) and would give them a soak every now and then.

The area was somewhat shady and the hose was about the most attention she gave them. After a couple of years we had the most amazing patch of Hydrangeas you could imagine! I also remember as small children we brought my grandmother a Hydrangea every Mother's Day. She would plant them in the unfussed over soil (dirt!) alongside the garage. She had a beautiful string of plants every year with virtually no effort after the planting! I know that Cape Cod is famous for it's blue Hydrangeas, so maybe it is just New England that has the magic touch!!

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

781Florist — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 05:41:26 GMT

Oh, she did cut them back but there was no real time spent or fretting over them!

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Lilysmom1 — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 09:52:07 GMT

@Annabellethecat66 , The ones I had an issue flowering were rhodos. It took several years for them to establish and now they bloom very well. I increased watering them over long dry periods. LM

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Lilysmom1 — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 09:52:53 GMT

@Kachina624 , yes way too much heat I think! LM

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Lilysmom1 — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 09:54:03 GMT

@Mom2Dogs , it is frustrating to have shrubs that don't perform! LM

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Lilysmom1 — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 10:00:59 GMT

@781Florist @Some people have great success with hydrangeas. I think a lot of it is soil and location. LM

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Lucky Charm — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 01:47:07 GMT

They do real well in sandy soil. Our last house didn't have any *dirt*, it was pure sand.

When I washed the floors inside, I used to dump the buckets of water on the hydrangeas once a week.

That's all the watering they got. (I washed the floors with a plant based dish liquid, nothing strong.)

My grandfather used to push rusted nails into the soil at his house to get the true blue flowers. I was never wild about the blue. I prefer pinks and purples. So no nails needed, if that was indeed what did the trick.

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

gardenman — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 12:32:48 GMT

Sometimes a plant just takes a year off. Last year I had no hydrangea blooms on my hydrangea. This year it was covered in flowers. Why didn't it flower last year? I have no idea. Why was it back to normal this year? No idea again. It just took a year off. I didn't do anything different than I always do.

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Nonametoday — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 12:50:29 GMT

@Lilysmom1 wrote:
Hello gardening friends.

This is a question that comes up all the time. I thought I would make a separate post to discuss this. I have probably close to 50 hydrangeas in my gardens and I have good success. Here is my advice. Hope it helps.

Hydrangeas not blooming

Do you know what the name of your hydrangea is? If not, take a photo (when in bloom if possible ) and take it to a nursery (nursery, not a big box store) and ask what kind it is.

Hydrangeas prefer morning sun and shade in the high heat of the day. Some types cannot tolerate high heat at all and will look wilted in hot afternoon sun.

Does your hydrangea bloom on old wood, on new wood or on both? It is important to know this because it affects when you should prune it. I usually prune mine right after blooming. If you wait too long to prune, you could be pruning off next year’s buds. I only prune to shape mine.

As a rule of thumb, you should never prune more than 1/3 off a shrub at any time

I only fertilize hydrangeas in the Spring. In any event, do not fertilize after July 1. Many people believe fertilizer will help an ailing or struggling shrub. Not true. It can stress the shrub, especially in dry conditions. When you fertilize, (I use a granular slow release fertilizer) do it before a rain. Lightly dig around the drip line of the shrub, apply the fertilizer and lightly cover it with surrounding mulch. If it doesn’t rain. You need to water the shrub well so that it dissolves into the soil.

I use compost and mulched/shredded oak leaves (I have a mulcher and I use downed oak leaves to produce oak leaf mulch) around my shrubs, especially around hydrangeas and rhodos, when I plant them. They add nutrients back to the soil, help retain moisture and help with shrubs whose leaves turn yellow (chlorosis).

Finally, watering shrubs in times of extreme heat is a big help. Water deep, not often. A good rink once or twice a week is much better than watering every day. Shrubs starved or water for long periods of drought have difficulty producing flowers.

I have only had two hydrangeas in two decades that did not bloom well. One was Nikko Blue which is notorious for few blooms. The other was oakleaf hydrangea. After several years of catering to them, I simply got rid of them.They we’re taking up premium real estate in my garden for no purpose so it was an easy decision.

@Lilysmom1

I have the old-fashioned hydrangeas (Nikko), oak leaf hydrangeas, Limelight, Annabel and Endless Summer.

The Endless Summers are in their 4th year and barely bloom. They are taking up real estate that they don't deserve. I gave them 4 seasons. They are hybrids so I assume they were not hybridized properly or whatever. Gone gone after Saturday. My gardener is taking them up.

Incidentally, only Endless Summer hydrangea, which is supposed to bloom if you prune anytime butas you mentioned, pruning at the wrong time (except Endless Summe; however, my four have had 4 blooms on two of them in as many blooms in all four years); deep watering is necessary and if they don't get enough water, no hydrangea is going to bloom and be healthy; and no sunshine that is a sure-fire recipe for failure.

In the Deep South, hydrangeas cannot tolerate afternoon sun. They can tolerate filtered sunlight but they cannot stand lots of western sunlight in the afternoon. So when and if you plant hydrangeas and you live in the South, plant them on the east side of your house, even the limelight which can tolerate a lot of sunshine do better on the east side of my house.

Since I dug up my "near 500 roses", I have planted hydrangeas and each season and each season there are Endless Summers that are removed or others that are relocated in the appropriate season. However, hydrangeas do not like to be moved. If you think you need to move hydrangeas, put them in large pots and just move the pots. I only have about 40 hydrangeas.

These shrubs, particularly, the oakleaf and Limelights are much larger than some of the smaller roses, and oak leaf are my favorite. They give you such beautiful color through all the seasons until winter and they have a beautiful architectural shape, but it takes about 3-4 years before they are prolific.

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Lilysmom1 — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 07:41:33 GMT

@Nonametoday Your experience with Endless Summer is like mine with oakleaf. I fussed with an oakleaf for five years before I pulled it. Same for Nikko Blue. It is gone as well. The foliage on Oakleaf is beautiful.

My Endless Summers are stars in the garden. I am in Zone 5 with a pull up to 6 because of climate change.

Location is pretty important. I just found a new home for the dogwood Cornus Kousa Summer Fun. It was in a location that was sunny all day. It was too hot in the afternoon. The new location is morning sun, dappled afternoon sun. I think it will thrive there.

Photos below of summer fun...stock photos.

@Nonametoday your roses sound lovely. What zone are you in? Could you recommend one that doesn't get too big? LM

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Nonametoday — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:46:40 GMT

@Lilysmom1 wrote:
@Nonametoday Your experience with Endless Summer is like mine with oakleaf. I fussed with an oakleaf for five years before I pulled it. Same for Nikko Blue. It is gone as well. The foliage on Oakleaf is beautiful.

My Endless Summers are stars in the garden. I am in Zone 5 with a pull up to 6 because of climate change.

Location is pretty important. I just found a new home for the dogwood Cornus Kousa Summer Fun. It was in a location that was sunny all day. It was too hot in the afternoon. The new location is morning sun, dappled afternoon sun. I think it will thrive there.

Photos below of summer fun...stock photos.

@Nonametoday your roses sound lovely. What zone are you in? Could you recommend one that doesn't get too big? LM

@Lilysmom1

I think it might be a zone difference. Oakleaf hydrangeas do well in the south and it could be yours are doing well because of that. I htink my Endless Summer just don't tolerate the heat. I know who hybridized the Endless Summer, spoke to our master gardeners' club one time, and I think it was just too hot where they were and we had 3 drought years although I watered, but I felt they needed to be near a tree in order to get enough shade since they don't get "cold" in the winter and this person agreed. However, the tree "sucks" up the water, and starves the hydrangeas when there is not enough water in the area.

About roses, I think you said you are in zone 5-6 (likely have microclimates in your garden). I am zone 8. You should not grow any of the Chinas, antique teas (called Teas, not hybrid teas), Polyanthas or Noisettes.

Although some might do well for you, you just never know. Likely the safest rose classification for you would be the Buck roses (hybridized in Iowa, so they are safe for your zone), the Albas, Damasks, some of the Bourbons (which are the prettiest classification), Gallicas and most of the Hybrid Musks (although H Musks are in the hybrid classification, they should still do well in your zone with proper protection in the winter). You should also do well with any of the Austin Roses. They are gorgeous and most of their genetics comes from the bourbon and the Damask (which I think are the most beautiful). Damasks are like ramblers, they will only bloom once a year, but OH What a bloom. Ramblers are not climbers so be sure you know that. There are beautiful ramblers and I swear by them and kept them because they grow up in trees and don't require a lot of care.

If you would like to see some beautiful Buck roses, which are easy care, go to chambleerosesdotcom and look at what they have in addition to roses as well. A great source for you as well would be Heirloom Roses in Oregon (I think Portland) because all their roses will likely survive a hard winter.

I hope that is helpful. Thank you so much. I was, at one time, consulting rosarian but have not kept my continuing education up since I no longer grow roses so any time you buy a rose, verify with the vendor that I did not lead you wrong.

You can go to

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Nonametoday — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:47:34 GMT

@Lilysmom1 wrote:
@Nonametoday Your experience with Endless Summer is like mine with oakleaf. I fussed with an oakleaf for five years before I pulled it. Same for Nikko Blue. It is gone as well. The foliage on Oakleaf is beautiful.

My Endless Summers are stars in the garden. I am in Zone 5 with a pull up to 6 because of climate change.

Location is pretty important. I just found a new home for the dogwood Cornus Kousa Summer Fun. It was in a location that was sunny all day. It was too hot in the afternoon. The new location is morning sun, dappled afternoon sun. I think it will thrive there.

Photos below of summer fun...stock photos.

@Nonametoday your roses sound lovely. What zone are you in? Could you recommend one that doesn't get too big? LM

@Lilysmom1

It looks like you have a green thumb. Your dogwood (conus) is gorgeous.

Re: Helping Hydrangeas Bloom

Nonametoday — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:51:44 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Lilysmom1 Now I know why I never see hydrangeas here in the desert.

1. It's too hot
2. Sun is probably too intense at 6,000ft a!titude, even in the shade.
3. They'd take too much water which is very expensive and wasteful.

Too bad as I love them. The garden is beautiful this fall.

@Kachina624

As you might imagine since I was a CR (consulting rosarian) and grew all kinds of roses, I was heavily involved in both the heritage roses and the hybrid teas and "new" roses. So, I traveled a lot throughout the country as did people to see my garden and rose gardens in my area, while I went to see theirs when invited. I was fortunate enough to have a rosiarn friend in the Desert in California, who grew hydrangeas in a whiskey barrel. Unique. She died a couple years ago but as far as I know her hydrangeas were still living. Her significant other had invented some genius watering system for them. At that time, I had plenty of water here and grew very few hortensia and mostly roses which although they require water to make their petals stand right for competition, too much water in the south will call horrific blackspot and all kinds of interested bugs.