My hydrangea has been blooming for about 2 months. This is its first year to bloom even though it is quite large. I went down this morning to cut off faded blossoms. Will it flower some more with dead-heading? or will I have to wait until next year for it to bloom on this year's new growth?
I also need to know how often to feed it and with what? We have pretty acid soil and it has a fair amount of shade.
Will pruning help flowering?
Hi,
Is it a remontant (reblooming) variety of H. macrophylla? Those rebloom on new wood. Most hyds bloom on old wood, so once during the summer is what you'll see.
Remontant varieties include Endless Summer, Blushing Bride (a type of Endless Summer), Forever and Ever, Radiant Red (a type of Forever and Ever), David Ramsey (supposed to be the same as Endless Summer), and Nantucket Nikko. I'm sure there are more.
I'm not up on the blooming habits of the other species of hyds; I'm sure another DGer will know.
I think it bloomed on old wood (last years new stems). I have been very happy with it at last. It is 3 years old and as large as the mother plant. Also, it has babies that I will cut off and give to my daughter.
If it's an old wood bloomer, then deadheading might help next year's flowers. I don't always deadhead my hyds though and the next year's bloom is fine as long as I protect it from frost in winter. What do you mean by babies? New plants that form by layering in the ground?
Yes, new babies from layering on its own. I have a few here and a couple at work. She is working for a landscaper, too. One day, maybe one day, she will have a garden center of her own. She is a computer whiz with an education in it, so she can network companies and manage their computer operations, also a certified trouble-shooter, but the job she had fell through when the office personnel insisted in being gross. They seemed to love to show-off how rednecked and low-life they were, constantly using dirty language. She complained once to the owners and things cooled off for awhile, but they started back. And these are 2 young women, I'm talking about here, not an office full of vulgar men. She quit.
Maybe she'll have a garden center and mail order place and be on Dave's!
My Nikko Blue reproduced that way, I must separate the young plant from the parent. This is a monster Nikko Blue with 8 inch blooms.
I think that's what mine is