I have a few hydrangeas in my yard. All I have planted. The first is Hydrangea macrophylla as the tag said. I've had this plant for 5 years and the only bloom I've seen on it is the one when I bought it. Oh it's gotten much bigger, but no blooms. I'm ready to pitch the darn thing. What am I doing wrong????????
Hydrangeas
is it getting enough sun to flower? Although many people consider them shade plants, they actually do need sufficient sun to flower decently.
nanstorm, there have been some hydrangea tips here and there on DG. This one may help: http://davesgarden.com/t/391650/hydrangea
How many years in one spot should it take to get one bloom? Thanks for the hyperlinks. I had the hydrangea in one spot for 4 seasons. 1st season planted and made mistake of cutting back in fall so lost potential bloom. 2nd season no bloom because of 1st years mistake. 3rd season no bloom, but thought that I might have lost bud because of being in unprotected area high north winds with frost. I then desided to transplant to another area with some northern protection. Plant has been in the new area for 2 seasons and no bloom. Do they have problems if there is too much competition for moisture? It's planted next to a mature arbovitae and the neighbor on the other side of the fence has every tree and shrub planted along this fence.
nanstorm... I wish I could answer your questions. Unfortunately, this was my first year having hydrangeas. Here's the sum total of my experience:
Two pee-gees that were nursery-purchased in June (about 2' tall then) and one became diseased and I dug it out. The matching one bloomed after it had been in the ground for 3 months. Gets regular watering because it's in a raised bed, and part-sun.
I also had a variegated cutting I got last summer from Calalily. It was about 6" tall in its pot when I transplanted it into a planter bed this spring. It grew to about 2 feet, and bloomed.... a lace-cap. Also gets regular watering because it's in a raised bed, and part-sun.
Nanstorm:
I have planted a number of the store-bought hydrangea macrophylla in my yard. Hydrangeas like moist, organic soils and shade--no direct, hot sun. I feed mine with azalea food ~3X per year (Mar., June, and Oct., when I'm already feeding the azaleas). This helps to acidify the soil and make the blooms blue (soil pH determines the color of the blooms--acidic/low pH results in blue flowers and alkaline/high pH results in pink flowers. I guesss purple flowers like I get means it's about neutral pH). H. macrophylla blooms on old wood, so you reduce the blooms if you prune it back. Here is a picture of my hydrangea garden on the north side of my house (those are H. quercifolia, oakleaf hydrangea, in the back there with some swamp ferns mixed in):
This message was edited Oct 4, 2003 11:02 PM
I have 2 hydrangeas, both here when we bought our home 10 years ago. One is an oakleaf: some years it gets lots of rain(water), other years it's dry. Some springs I fertilize, sometimes I forget. But it's now 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide, and blooms like crazy no matter what I do.
The other hydrangea (macrophylla) is the opposite. I have had 10 years to experiment: water alot or a little. Fertilize, leave it be. Prune hard in fall, don't prune at all. Cover it with burlap, cardboard, autumn leaves - or leave it to face the weather. And it has bloomed - with ONE flower - about every 3 years. I am convinced it has nothing to do with me or my "assistance" - it is a picky plant that wants all the planets lined up in the heavens just so, or it won't bloom. It bloomed this year - so, since I know it won't bloom again for a couple years I will dig it up in spring and re-home it. I doubt it will perform better in a new location but I can think of more cooperative things to put in my front flowerbed!
Eileen
We just bought 3 oak-leaf hydrangeas and 3 macrophylla for a hedge border. I'm wondering how big these will get down here in FL. I've seen them in the Carolinas growing huge and blooming very well in full sun. I once grew one in a large clay pot in a screened porch here in FL and it bloomed every year! We are thinking of planting these in a semi-shade spot getting full sun a few hours in the afternoon. I'm reading they grow up to 10 feet wide but am wondering if this happens in FL.
This message was edited Nov 1, 2003 12:10 PM
What the nurseryman told me is these will get to about 6 ft. wide and 8-10 ft. tall. I have only had mine for 3 years (almost) and it has already hit about 9 ft. tall, but it's only 3 ft. wide. Mine are in pretty much full shade, very rich soil on the north side of the house and are doing really well there. I'd be wary of putting them in full sun except very early morning and very late evening here in FL. If you keep them watered, they might be OK.
Nanstorm,
Several years ago I snapped some branches off my mothers old Hydrangea (pink, blue with acid)stuck them in the adobe and had blooms that same year. They got so big that they topped the fence and I ended up removing them. They were gone a couple of years & I decided I would like another so I bought a lacecap hydrangea, put it in the EXACT same spot and there it has sat for 2 years. Not another bloom. Same treatment & conditions and nothing. So perhaps you are not doing ANYTHING wrong. Maybe you need to yank it out and find someone with an OLD hydrangea and take some cuttings. The old standards don't need so much babying. I think I will take my own advice.
I read in the book "Hydrangeas" by Daria Price Bowman, the following quote:
"Hydrangeas bloom either on old wood (stems and branches) or on new growth. Big leaf hydrangea (hydrangea macrophylla) for example blooms on old wood, meaning it produces buds on the branches and stems that grew in the previous growing season or earlier. These shrubs should be pruned in spring, by making cuts above strong terminal buds and removing stems that extend beyond the bud. You should also remove skimpy stems, especially those without good terminal buds, by cutting them right to the ground."
Hope this helps.
Quick question guys, don't want to hijack the thread, I'll start a new thread if you think it's more appropriate...
My Nikko Blue and Forever Pink were in 10" pots this year (their first year). I sat the pots in the shade by the house. I went to pick up the pots yesterday and the roots have grown out of the pots and into the ground! I couldn't budge them without ripping the roots up bad. Do I rip them up now? Wait till spring? Dig the roots up? Plant them in the ground now? eeek! The plants are only 24" or so around and it doesn't get below 0 degrees here or anything like that, so I think they'll survive in the pots...
thanks
Move them in the spring but for now protect them by mounding soil or a thick layer of mulch up against the pots. They should do fine in your climate!! :-)
Just a little note here on the macrophylla hydrangea, Endless Summer, which blooms on both old and new wood, please read the following (a little long but worth it).
http://www.renegadegardener.com/content/105holyhydrangea.htm
......and here is this beauty.......
http://www.americanhydrangeasociety.org/new_hydrangeas.html
thanks :)
Before you pinch,please send me some cuttings. I will trade for them or do an sase.Thanks, Jody