endless summer hydrangea lacking blooms

Should this hydrangea be cut back to grow on new wood, or does it grow on old wood?

It blooms on both old and new wood. If it needs pruning, then you can cut it back, but if it doesn't need pruning to keep it looking how you want, then I would leave it alone. There have been a couple other threads around here about people who were disappointed because their Endless Summer plants were blooming a little reluctantly, so I'm not sure how much you can expect from it. There are some other rebloomers like Forever and Ever which I think people have had better luck with.

I didn't get ANY blossoms on my ES this year and its about 3 yrs. old.
Why no blossoms?
All my other Hydrageas bloomed.
I have F&E but I think it's in too much shade.
It hasn't grown much and just a few small blossoms.
Limelight is doing GREAT! (see my thread on LL)
Plan to get more of that one.

If Endless Summer is going to be a dud, I'm going to be very disappointed!!! I have 4 of them I planted this year. They are tiny little things so of course I did not expect anything this year. They are suppose to bloom on old and new wood, and that is one of their BEST features. You are supposed to be able to have encourage long bloom season but deadheading. Since these are my ONLY hydrangea's I'm going to be really bummed if they turn out to be lousy choice!!!

psychw2
That is the risk one takes when you grow things.
They don't always work out.
My garden is in a constant state of flux...figuring out what works for me and what doesn't.
I've found out that Hydrangeas require A LOT of water and with our droughty summers of late, its certainly not a low maintenance species.
You might want to try Limelight.
It has really done well for me but then again I just planted it last year but of all the Hydrangeas I planted it's done the best under the same growing conditions. (see my post on Limelight)

Those of you who are disappointed in your Endless Summer should go read the thread "Endless Disappointment" in this forum--there was a lot of discussion there of various reasons why someone'e Endless Summer might not be blooming, but by the end of the thread it became clear that ES is just a bit disappointing on the blooms, if you want a rebloomer you're probably better off with Forever & Ever or some of the other newer reblooming cultivars.

Or you could treat it like a non-reblooming hydrangea--make sure you don't prune too late in the year, and protect it over the winter. I've seen them out here blooming like crazy, so I think that they bloom just fine on old wood, it's the blooming on new growth that isn't quite living up to expectations. So if you can protect the buds on the old wood just like you would with one of the non-reblooming cultivars, you'll be a lot happier with its performance. I realize that defeats the purpose of owning a rebloomer, but if you already have some and really don't feel like ripping them out and replacing them, that's one way that you could still hopefully enjoy some blooms.

I'd be happy if it bloomed just once vs. not at all.

Well, if you're willing to go to the extra effort of protecting it over the winter, then you've got a better chance that it'll bloom for you. Otherwise if you don't want the effort, I'd replace it with a different reblooming cultivar.

If it is suppose to bloom on new growth...why no blossoms?

Because it doesn't bloom on new wood quite as well as the people who developed it might have originally led people to believe. That's the whole problem with Endless Summer, it doesn't perform as well as it was supposed to. The other reblooming cultivars would appear to be better. Rebloomers also bloom on old wood (and as far as I know, there's nothing wrong with ES blooming on old wood, it's the blooming on new growth where it has some deficiencies). That's why I suggested if you treat it like a non-reblooming type and protect it over the winter, if you do that you may get more blooms.

*sign* and it was one of the ONLY things I BOUGHT from a dealer. I have been buying and trading almost exclusively here on DG. Oh well... I think I'm going to go eat worms I'm so sad.

Thanks ecrane....well that totally sucks, not to mention costly for a lot of people who may of spent $40. plus per plant to purchase them.
Maybe ES's developers should of spent more time growing ES in zones like mine before marketing its so called capabilities of producing blossoms on new growth! Personally I don't have the time to spend wrapping or covering tender plants.
Its survival of the fittest around here so ES is outta here!

what can I say? I am the originator of the endless disappointment thread. Believe it or not it is just now putting on buds. Late September yet. If it blooms I will put pics up.

I really hope you guys give your Endless Summers a chance. I got mine last summer. It was in a gallon can and it spent all of it's time blooming last year so it didn't get any bigger. Now, this year it put on a lot of growth and started blooming a month ago. I really am pleased with it. Don't give up on them. Please.

Jeanette

Mine is 2 -3 years old.
Its just now making some flower buds (the first of the season, about dime size) but around here its a bit too late because we could be getting some hard frosts anytime now. I'm going to give mine to my DIL who lives in an urban area where I've seen alot of Hydrangeas growing so maybe it will work for her.

I can understand the frustration if you've seen no blooms after all that time.

I must be lucky. Mine is over a year old now. It was blooming when I got it and has continued to bloom ever since. It's more than doubled in size in a year and I sometimes cut the spent blooms very short to keep it compact.

I have no idea if anything I'm doing has contributed to the success, but for what it's worth: I have it on a soutwest facing wall in a bed of really nice dirt. It gets full sun for about 3-4 hours, then filtered sun from then on. I've been fertilizing it about once a month during the spring/summer.

As long as it continues to do this well, it will remain one of my fav's.

I am sure glad someone else is having success with their Endless Summer. Mine did double it's size early in the year and has been blooming since. I wish it bloomed earlier, but if it had it would not have had the strength to grow bigger. Can't have it all.

Jeanette

ES's aren't a problem for people in zone 7+, even if it doesn't bloom a ton on new growth, it also blooms on old wood so if you live in a warm enough climate you'll have flowers regardless, it's the people in the colder zones who've been having problems with it.

But you're in zone 5, so if you're having success with yours, it makes me wonder if the problem this year for other people was the Easter freeze rather than the plant itself. That was my original theory when people first started complaining about their ES's not blooming--I figured some of the new growth where buds would have formed got damaged by the late freeze. You're in the same zone as everyone who's been having problems, but since you're out west I don't think you got hit by the Easter freeze like the midwest & east coast did. So I think there may be hope for everyone else's plants for next year. Your plant definitely sounds like it's blooming on new growth and that's where it had been sounding like ES had trouble.

One thing I did do was piled straw, leaves, not loose straw, on top of both of my hydrangeas last fall. I thought I had killed them, but the weirdest thing is that they came up from the roots. Now, they are getting to be regular bushes and I don't know what to do with them this year. I don't have pine needles around, or leaves. I have cedar which are mostly covered with spider mites.

I have a roll of burlap, I might wrap them up with straw and burlap. But, it has been raining and the straw is all wet. If it freezes it surely would freeze the straw. Whoops.

Any suggestions? I am afraid to wrap plastic around them after the burlap since they wouldn't have any air????

Jeanette

I am wondering the same thing Jnette, I bought some burlap but am wondering what to mulch with.....my hydrangeas never flowered this summer due to an unexpected late spring frost. I want to make sure they are well protected this winter. They did however grow into beautiful huge bushes. Since they bloom on old wood, I assume I should not cut them back if I want flowers next summer but they are so huge I wonder how I should mulch them for maximum protection.
I have quite a few Endless Summer, they bloomed beautifully and are still in bloom but this is only the first year for them. I also planted a few new ones that are doing well, a Blushing Bride & a Pinky Winky, both are still flowering.
Barb

Barb
Your Pinky Winky will not require winter protection, they bloom on new wood. For the big leaf hydrangeas some people use about four layers of burlap. It will keep the frost off the buds. Plastic wrap is not a good idea.

Gary

In the past, I winter protected Nikko Blue by putting a circle of chicken wire around it and simply filling it with straw. That worked very well to preserve the branches. Just don't remove the straw too early.
I've tried to use burlap on tender climbing roses and that didn't well work at all.

YIKES!!! I assumed that when I bought my ES hydrangea that all this protection stuff would not be necessary. Did I read something wrong??

I bought TINY little ES hydrangea liners this past summer. They are only about a foot tall and I still have 4 of them (I traded the rest). I suppose I could experiement... protect some in different manors and see how it all shakes out in the end. Of course even that is not a fair trial. They are in very different areas with differing exposures.

You're not supposed to have to protect it, but some people have been having trouble with theirs and not getting as many blooms as they hoped. Yours are very small, so it may be a few years before they bloom anyway regardless of whether they're protected or not. If you really don't want to go to all the trouble of protecting them, you can let them go for a few years and see what happens, then once they've gotten to be a good size if you're disappointed with the amount of blooms you're getting, then try protecting them and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks ecrane3 for the helpful ideas!

Ecrane is right. Endless Summer was hybridized specifically for the colder climates. I guess we are just so used to things dieing that we do try to protect everything. I am under the feeling now that even tho I am suppose to be zone 5, I try not to buy anything that doesn't say zone 4. And now, I heard that they are rezoning things and trying to say we are zone 6!!!

Who in the world does these things? Maybe the growers so that we have to replace everything every year??

You guys say to use straw, but not only is mine all wet already, but it will get wet without some protection. Burlap isn't going to keep it dry. I hear what you are saying about plastic.

Cottage Rose, you say burlap didn't work on your climbing rose? So, did it die? If not, what did you end up using? Or going to use???

Jeanette

Jeanette
I have a tender climbing rose that I wrapped in burlap in an attempt to preserve the canes.
The crown didn't die but the canes died back even using burlap.
I've had better luck spraying Wilt-Pruf on my roses late fall and mid winter (if you get a thaw).
You have to spray it when its 40 degrees or over for the day.
Also if you can lay it down which you can't with most climbers unless you "tip" it (dig up one side and lay it down in a trench)...you can mound soil and mulch on it. All that is too much work for me so I focus on cane hardy roses.
Also snow cover helps so shovel snow on to your roses.

Cottage Rose:

Ok, here's the deal. My soil is so bad that I have been here 12 years and still cannot use most of it. Solid sand and everything I put on it sifts right down and is gone. Oh well, different story. So, I have my rose, a gorgeous Jackson Perkins, Stairway to Heaven climber, in a pot. This is my first year since my daughter bought it for my birthday this year. It is in a bit 20 gallon nursery pot like they use for trees.

So, I think I will lay it down on it's side so the rain doesn't fill it up and freeze. But, before I do that, should I wrap it in insulation, (the pot) burlap, and plastic, and then what do I do with the canes? They are about 6 feet above the soil level.

Maybe next year I will find a place to plant it, pot and all, in the sand. If I can maybe get some kind of posthole digger to make a hole that large.

Jeanette

Do you have an unheated garage or out building you can store it in for the winter. I have wintered roses in pots that way.
Just remember to water them once in awhile.

No, I don't have that. I have a plant room in my basement where I winter a lot of my cold sensitive plants in, but sometimes it gets up to mid 50s. I have a heater and a thermostatically controlled plug in that will keep the heater on and off between 35 and 45, but can't help it if it goes over that.

Jeanette

Hmmm....
How about taking the rose out of the pot and putting it in the ground for the winter?

I sure do hate to do that. It has just gotten started good in the pot. I suppose I could take it out and put it in a smaller pot and plant it. But then you see, it wouldn't be very stable to go into winter. Wonder if it would be strong enough to take the cold.

Actually that wouldn't be any different than what you said.

Jeanette

I think it would be okay if you transpanted it into the ground but you never know. Never the less roses are tougher than you think.
Keep in mind more die during the winter from dehydration than the cold.
Just water it a lot until the ground freezes, spray with Wilt -Pruf late fall and mid winter, mound extra soil on the crown then cover it with leaves or straw.

I meant to tell you that I used Wilt-Pruf on something one year and I must have used too much 'cause it died. Can't remember what it was. My mother used to use it on her Rhodies and she was in zone 5.

I was very interested in reading the pros and cons about the endless summer as i just went on line to buy a couple and had placed my order and found out shipping was going to be $43.00 making 2 plants a total of 83.00 so i decided they were not worth that much to me. Now I am wondering because i am in zone 9 and they should do good here. I have lots of others and they are wonderful. Guess i will go back and see if i can locate them again.

are they pink and blue just like the others are?

Also is there another kind that blooms on old and new growth besides the endless summer. I don't care about the name.

This site is wonderful.

They are pink & blue depending on your soil. There are also some other reblooming cultivars--there are a few others that start off with Endless Summer but then there's a 2nd part to the name (the one I remember is Endless Summer Blushing Bride, which is whitish colored). And there are also a couple called Forever and Ever. And there's All Summer Beauty. Probably a few others too, most of them tend to have a name that sort of implies they bloom for a long time, so they're pretty easy to spot.

But you should do fine with the non-rebloomers too in your zone, so you've got a lot more options than people in colder climates. If you want to shop around, I know that LazyS, Forest Farm, and Joy Creek all have good hydrangea selections, and I'm sure there are plenty of other places too.

I think that the main appeal of Endless Summer, was why it was hybridized, my understanding that it was for the colder climates. But, yes, once it starts blooming it doesn't stop until frost. I wonder how long it would bloom in zone 9. Very interesting. Mine just blooms it's little heart out. LOL. It didn't start until late July this year, but that was ok because it gave it a chance to grow some since it didn't grow at all last year because all of it's energy went into blooming. And nice BIG blooms for the size of the plant. I have seen larger blossoms but on larger plants.

Jeanette

ecrane Thank you so much for the info. I am going to be shopping for some of the rebloomers have several of the ones that just bloom early summer and they do really well. I will be trying the nurseries you mentioned. Is this a good time of year to look for them or should I wait until spring? We have little cold weather where I am in Fla maybe once or twice it will drop below freezing.

Sorry I did not respond sooner but I was out of town yesterday. Again i appreciate the info!

Around here fall is a good time to plant so I always try to buy things now, and since you are also in a warm climate I'm sure the same is true for you. If you do order hydrangeas now though, especially if the nursery's in a colder climate than you, don't be surprised if the plant looks a little ratty when you get it--in colder climates they're probably getting ready to drop their leaves by now. I wouldn't wait too long to order things though, some of the places that are in colder climates will stop shipping for the winter at some point, or even if they'll keep shipping, if the plants have to travel through a cold area on their way to you and they end up sitting out overnight in the UPS truck or something that's probably not very good for them!

Also, if you don't find things you like at the nurseries I mentioned, if you go to Garden Watchdog, you can choose to display nurseries that sell hydrangea plants, that's one of the categories that you can narrow things down to. That should pull up every company in the Watchdog who sells hydrangeas.

I was given a BIG ES three years ago by the guy who built my patio - he went way over schedule and it was a gift, and landscape sized. I put it on the southeast side of my yard next to a low wall and it has bloomed and bloomed and bloomed - in fact I have new buds NOW- and it's huge - over 3 feet wide. I just compost and water, but I think that its location makes it - effectively - in a zone 6 microclimate, rather than 5a. I have seen specimens in my community on the north sides of yards that stayed small and then died. I am beginning to think that in the colder zones the plant really does need some protection. Oakleaf hydrangeas are the same way here. If you don't burlap them in the winter they either fail to bloom (old wood) or die.

Donna