Garden

[Lilysmom1]

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

[Lilysmom1]

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

[Lilysmom1]

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

[Lucky Charm]

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.

[gardenman]

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.

[Nonametoday]

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@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.

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@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.

[Lilysmom1]

@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

[Nonametoday]

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@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

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@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

[Nonametoday]

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@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

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@Lilysmom1 

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

[Nonametoday]

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@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.

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@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.