I have a Hydrangea that is about 10 years old and is on a north wall. The foliage is beautiful but I have never had any blooms.
Can someone help me please.
Hydrangea won't bloom.
What zone are you in? And do you know what the name of your hydrangea is? There are a couple different possibilities depending on your zone and what sort of hydrangea it is.
1) If you're in zone 5 or 6, then there are some types of hydrangeas that only bloom on old wood, and if you don't protect them over the winter by building a cage and piling leaves over them, then the buds will often freeze off and you'll have few or no blooms (hydrangeas in this category include most cultivars of H. macrophylla, H. serrata, and H. quercifolia).
2) Also with the ones that bloom on old wood, if you prune them too late in the fall or over the winter or in early spring, you may be cutting off the branches where next year's flowers would form. (this is true no matter what zone you're in)
3) If you're in zone 7+ or if it's a cultivar of H. arborescens or H. paniculata, or one of the reblooming H. macrophylla's (endless summer, forever & ever, etc) then my best guess would be too much shade. They don't like to be in full blazing sun all day, but they do enjoy some morning sun and if they're in pretty much total shade you're not as likely to get blooms.
I am in zone 9b and have only one Hyderangea plant and this is from Pixydish. In my zone hyderangea can't survive but its mirecle...... it bloomed for me and here is photo.
Kaleem
Kaleem,
Your hydrangea is beautiful, lucky you to have gotten it to bloom! Much luck with continued success with it!
My hydrangea is a Ge'ne'rale Vicomtesse de Vibraye, And I am in Zone 6 and haven't erver covered it. On these kind too when should you prune them?
Thanks
It's a macrophylla and it's one of the older types that only blooms on old wood. That means if you want to see blooms, you'll have the best results if you protect it over the winter. Also since it blooms on old wood, don't prune it too late in the fall, or too early in the spring, it should be pruned after it blooms. But if spring comes around and you have branches that have obviously died over the winter you can prune those out since you won't get any blooms from them.
So if you've been pruning it the wrong time of year, you might try changing that first and see if you get some blooms that way, but if you've been pruning it right and still don't have blooms then you're going to need to protect it.
Would someone help me? I don't get this "old wood, new wood" business. About a month ago, I "pruned" my climbing hydrangea of wood stems (small branches) that looked so old and dried out, they were unsightly. Did I not recognize that they were "old wood?" No blooms had developed yet on any part of the plant. (I'm Zone 5 and in a windy spot. They are planted on an east wall.) After blooming last summer, are the branches where there were blooms considered "this year's old wood?" I know I sound confused but if I can't cut "old wood," just what can I cut? Thanks to all of you for helping me out.
If it's old wood that's dead (like from cold damage or something) then you can cut it, it's not going to form blooms anyway. And after a particular branch has bloomed, you can feel safe cutting it back. Anywhere that you see new growth during this year needs to be left alone, that'll be where next year's flowers will form.
Hydrangea petiolaris , climbing hydrangea isn't usually pruned. Laterals can go out three feet or more as the plant climbs. As this is a climbing plant that can sometimes be grown as a low sprawling shrub, all flowering is on laterals. They take three to five years to establish. Some references say that they don't bloom until they have climbed to the maxumum structure height to which they are attached. My personal experience is that they bloom when they start to agressively climb. I have two. One is blooming well at five foot attached to an 80' oak. The other is just getting established. What you described as "old dried out branches" may be what are considered an attractive and desirable winter feature of exfoliating bark that develops as the plant matures. When you cut those off you cut off the most mature part of the plant, very much desirable and alive. A petiolaris is not really a "new wood" "old wood" hydrangea". It's all about old wood laterals blooming and new shoots from last year's growth climbing. In this case old wood is that which formed in previous years growth and hardened off before winter.
This message was edited May 28, 2008 9:22 AM
Oh, sorry...I wasn't paying attention to which hydrangea it was, we'd been talking about macrophyllas so that's where my brain was!
snapple45 - thanks for the info on the petiolaris. My neighbor has one on the north face of her garage and she's frustrated it has not bloomed. It is getting close to the 5 year mark. It really is spreading aggressively now and she wants to cut it back so as to not climb to the soffit/fascia area and keep it in bounds horizontally as well. Horizontally, it really has some heavy duty branching. Is she going to mess up the blooming if she cuts it back?
Yes, the bloom will be diminished. This is a climber that wants to climb. They can go 80' or more. If planted next to a structure that allows for the holdfasts to grip that's the direction it wants to go. It will forever require pruning. This is taken from The American Horticultural Society "Pruning & Training Maunal".......
"No formative pruning is needed. Tie in young shoots to their supports until they form aerial roots. This may take two or three seasons. Once firmly attached, plants will climb vigorously. Pruning of established plants is best kept to a minimum, but as plants fill their space, shorten overlong shoots and outward-growing laterals by cutting them back to a healthy bud. Wall-trained plants flower most abundantly at the top, so retain as much upper growth as possible. Old plants tolerate hard pruning: Cut back hard in early spring to leave only the framework branches. Drastic pruning may reduce flowering for a year or two, and is best spread over three or four years."
I hope this helps.
Thanks for your help on the petiolaris. I'm quite new at this so I'm grateful for your advice! As a fairly new subscriber to DG, I'm concerned that I may not be able to give as much as take from this wonderful forum! Thanks Ecrane3: I'm reminded how important it is to distinguish plants by using the Latin names and thanks Snapple45: you've given me a multitude of ways of looking at my hydrangea which indeed took about five years to establish and show its vigor. Glad to say I just didn't pull it out of the ground for all those years when it showed little flowering. Now it's up about ten feet!
For every single piece of information I'm able to share, I learn several new things in return. That's the way it is here and it's great. The hard part of the establishment for the petiolaris is over. Now it's just an occaisional nip with the pruners and stand back and enjoy the show! It will get better each year. Pat yourself on the back.