First flowers on my Forever and Ever Hydrangea purchased in May. This is the first hydrangea I've ever had and so far I'm impressed. It's wilted on me a few times in the heat we're having here but I watered it hard everytime and it came back beautifully. I thought for sure it would start turning yellow from so much water but NOT. Hope it comes back next year even bigger!
Beautiful, toni!
Toni,
How is Forever & Ever doing this year for you? I just picked up five of them for off my back patio (morning sun/PM shade) and I have high hopes.
I'm a bit north of Chicago, in the Fox Lake area. Let me know how this one did for you :)
VERY nice. I purchased one too, but mine is much smaller. On the tag it says "Hydrangea macrophylla 'Early Sensation' a Forever & Ever Hydrangea"
Is that the same as yours?
I think there was an original one that was just called Forever & Ever, that's probably the one that Toni had, then they developed more reblooming hydrangeas and made the name of the whole series Forever and Ever with each one in the series having another name too.
I have one of the original forever&ever. I only have 2 blooms this year and they are pretty small.
I just purchase this hydrangea. Wilting it does, but so does my Endless Summer in the heat and dry each and every summer. I loved this variety, so I tried it. It is beautiful and the double pink is what I have.
I'm hoping in time it establishes itself, but my experience with these varieties is wilting down very easily. Recovery is swift, but Annabelle, Limelight, and others in my garden do not wilt nearly as bad.
Do you have to cut back old blooms to get new?????
Do you have them somewhere that they're getting a lot of sun? Annabelle and Limelight can take more sun than the macrophyllas can, so if you have them somewhere that they're getting afternoon sun you might try moving them somewhere a bit shadier. Or if they're planted right under a tree I've found that mine will wilt a lot more because the tree takes a lot of the available moisture, but as soon as I moved them somewhere not as close to the tree they did much better.
Endless Summer is under a huge locust with dappled light and then shade.
Forever and Ever gets a little more sun. It is brand new. We've had so little ran in Syracuse, that I feel that's part of it.
Endless Summer just seems to wilt no matter what. Is there something in the roots, I wonder?????
If it's under a huge locust that's probably what your problem is--I haven't had luck growing hydrangeas directly under big trees, the tree tends to suck up most of the moisture and the hydrangea wilts constantly. I bet you if you move it somewhere that you get about the same amount of shade but it's not right in the tree's root zone, it'll wilt less. I don't have Endless Summer so I can't comment on its level of wilting compared to other hydrangeas, but I have never had luck with hydrangeas under big thirsty trees.
Thanks for the reply, guess I misspoke. The Endless Summer is not UNDER the Locust but it shades it somewhat in another bed. It still wilts. I'm hearing from gardeners in this area that it does do that, but it seems wierd to me.
Just a comment from a southern gardener who grows many hydrangeas - it is normal for hydrangeas to display a wilting habit during the heat of the day. Dirr comments on this in his work. We have had temps exceeding 102 with high humidity throughout this week. They wilt during the day, but I check them the following morning. If they are upright, I don't water. In lower temps, when planted in dappled shade, they should cope well. They do require regular watering, however. I wish you well - they are wonderful woody plants. The remontants (so-called rebloomers which bloom on current year growth) will serve you well in the midwest. Keep in mind that they look like a bundle of sticks during the winter.
Thanks so much for your help. I love hydrangeas and am adding more and more to the garden in place of other shrubs. I have had great luck so far with Annabelle, which is so easy, Limelight, Tardiva, and a few others. My Oak Leaf Hydrangea is gorgeous in leaf, but the blooms are there one year and not the next. Our frigid temps might have something to do with this.
Happy Gardening!!!!
Toni - that is a beautiful hydrangea. Does it turn that color of pink after the bloom has been open awhile, or is it that shade from the start? I'd love to have one of those since it appears they grow in zone 5.
I've had problems with my ES wilting where ever they are, under trees, away from trees... they don't care, they wilt. Last year was the first year they didn't look like they were dying. But then we did have a long, cool, wet spring and this was th ieir 3rd full season in the ground. The blooms were gorgeous and the plants made decent size. The Lady in Red really took off too.
