No luck getting hydrangea to bloom

Last year my established hydrangeas had very few flowers. The opinion on this forum was that perhaps the buds froze. This year we had a mild winter and in the spring whenever frost was forcast, we covered all our hydrangeas for the night. Growth is coming up from the bottom but some of the stems are dead and brittle while the rest just look dead. DH wants to cut them off but I keep hearing that they flower on old growth so I don't want to. In spite of the fact that they look dead. lol I know I have a real problem but don't have any idea what I am doing wrong. Suggestions, please. They used to be really nice. We have three of them that are in this condition so it isn't just one. Two years ago the very best one that was covered with blooms the year before, just plain up and died.

Another view

Unfortunately if the old growth is dead it won't produce flowers--if you scratch those stems and there's no green under the bark it means they're dead so you might as well prune them off. My guess is that you need to provide them more winter protection--what you're seeing is exactly what happens when they get too much cold during the winter. I'd suggest building a cage around them and fill it with leaves in the fall and leave that there until the weather warms up again in the spring. Or else replace them with one of the hydrangeas that blooms on new wood--H. paniculata and H. arborescens are two species that bloom on new wood, or if you like the macrophyllas go for one of the reblooming cultivars like the Forever & Ever or Endless Summer series.

Looks like new growth already coming up to me. I would cut the dead sticks off.

ants

kays - I'd agree with ecrane. Do you remember the name of them? I have a couple Nikko Blue's (hardy to zone 6 and I'm zone 5) that may or may not bloom. I used to baby them and wrap burlap around them. Nothing helped, it was just hit and miss. Now I just leave them and let all the leaves stay around the base all winter but don't cage them. If they get blooms great, if not, I just enjoy the foliage. Do you fertilize them? Is your soil acid or alkaline there? If it's alkaline, I'd fertilize them with something like Hollytone. Every other year I use a little bit of Triple Phosphate.

I went to the Endless Summer and have only had luck getting buds on the lower part of the old stems. I wait until alot of new growth begins and by that time you can see which buds will take off and which have died. At that point I prune off the dead stuff.

I think ecrane3 has it right. I had 3 hydrangeas in a shady part of my woods. They slowly withdrew from blooming until they looked like yours. I moved them 2 years ago into a sunnier spot and now they bloom beautifully. Just that little extra bit of warming in the winter in a very dappled woods (no tree leaves) from a very shady spot (house shadow) and they returned.

Hydrangeas (the mophead type) frustrate me so much. I've got one that looked great one year, bad the next (despite winter protection). I had lots of blooms, but a ton of naked stems under that...it was like the reverse of your first pic, Kay. Then last year was what I thought was the rejuvenation year with no flowers but lots of new foliage growth. This year I've got flower buds at the top again but almost no foliage on most of the lower parts of the canes. I don't know if I need to just cut the whole thing back nearly to the ground and let it try to start over or what. It doesn't seem to matter if I protect it or not- something always seems to go wrong with that one and it won't ever look as good as it did that one year.

I didn't cover Blushing Bride last year, and virtually none of the buds died. It's got flower buds at the top of every cane and is leafed out all the way down them, too. I covered it on a few frosty nights after the buds started to wake up, but that's it.

Yes, I use Hollytone, I guess I'm not the only one who has problems with the hydrangeas. That should make me feel better, I know, but when I see all the beautiful ones in other people's yards; I can't understand what I do wrong. At least, I went ahead and cut the dead tips off and they look better. Thanks for all your information.

Dense shade can result in less blooms. But do consider indirect light from cement walkways/surfaces and walls when deciding if it is not getting enough and if it should be planted elsewhere. If a hydrangea has trouble because of dense shade, it is likely that other bushes also will have the same problem. Ditto for the lawn.

Too much fertilizer can also result in fewer or no blooms. Lots of nitrogen can make the plant produce nice green leaves and few blooms. Hydrangeas can be fed once in June where you live and that should be fine for the whole year. Do not fertilize starting in July because you do not want tender new growth to get zapped by early frosts.

A hydrangea that is planted out of zone can also have difficulty with blooms and will need winter protection in order to bloom. You can look up the name of your variety on the Internet or call/visit a local plant nursery. Some of them carry books with plant hardiness information. If you do not know the name of the variety, you may want to assume it is not hardy and, in that case, winter protect it every year.