I've had a beautiful Lacecap hydrangea for about three years but it has never bloomed. It has never been pruned. I can't figure out why it hasn't bloomed?
It gets all morning sun and evening shade since I live in zone 8b and the afternoon/evenings are severly hot. I've noticed the plant leaning toward the east sun. Do you think it needs more sun than it gets now? I love this plant and would certainly keep it if it never bloomed.
Lacecap Hydrangea
Does it look healthy otherwise, or are you seeing things like chlorotic leaves? If the leaves are looking poor then it would help if you could post some pics, but if you've got a fertilizing issue or some sort of pest/disease that's showing up on the leaves that could be stressing the plant enough that it won't bloom.
The two most common causes of hydrangeas not blooming are people pruning at the wrong time of year which you're not doing, or buds freezing off in a late cold snap, but that's generally only a problem in zones 6 and colder and it would be an extremely rare occurrence in zone 8b.
If it really gets sun all morning that should be plenty (but how much sun is it...is it direct sun, or is it just a tiny pinch of dappled light filtering through trees? If it's the latter then maybe that's not enough light).
Is it putting out a lot of green growth? It's possible if you're giving it too much nitrogen that it may put out lots of green growth at the expense of flowers.
Or another possibility if it hasn't grown too much yet (or just started doing a lot of growth this year) is that it was following the "first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap" rule. If this is it's "leap" year where it really takes off, then I'd expect you should have flowers next year. Also, how big was the plant when you got it? If it was very tiny it may take longer than you would expect to get going. I bought a teensy hydrangea this year, it literally is about 3" tall right now with about 2 leaves, so I'd be very shocked if it didn't take a few years before it bloomed.
The plant looks very healthy. It's not very bushy and probably because I've never pruned it. I haven't seen any bugs or insects on it.
I'm thinking maybe it's not getting all the sun it needs. I've checked it twice this morning and from about 10-10:30 am it's pretty dappled shade due to the tree that's nearby. It was a tiny baby plant when I first bought it.
I have an Endless summer plant in the same garden vicinity and it is doing fine and always blooms. It's blooming again right now.
If ES gets the same amount of light and is blooming fine then it shouldn't be the light that's the problem, although giving it a little more probably wouldn't hurt it (however transplanting it may set it back and delay blooming again since the plant will have to get re-established). If the plant was tiny when you bought it I expect that's the real problem, when you buy tiny plants you save money but the tradeoff is you have to wait longer to enjoy them. So unless you feel it's getting a lot less light than your Endless Summer I'd leave it where it is and just give it some time, chances are it needs time to grow before it'll bloom. If it's gotten to a decent size this year, hopefully next year you'll start to see a few blooms and then it'll keep getting better and better as it continues to grow.
Thanks ecrane! I think I will give it one more summer and see what happens. I probably need to feed it a little more too. It's a beautiful plant even without blooms. ;)
Hydrangeas here (Dallas/Fort Worth) do not have much problem but it is possible that you are suffering from the Florida Effect (my term). You see, people who live in Central Florida can grow hydrangeas but also have trouble with bloomage. The problem appears to be the weather. The area's weather is such that the plants have difficulty going dormant and anything that prevents that can be bad for blooms. It is very common for them to suddenly get drops in temperature that kill the flower buds. Locals have to protect the flower buds by covering the plants (if the variety has had trouble in past years) or they need to grow it in pots and bring it inside when the freezing weather comes.
Being mid way between D/FW and Houston, you may have a similar problems so consider covering the plants overnight. I have also suggested feeding the plants only in May and then again in July (try 1 cup or less of manure or cottonseed meal); then starting in August, apply no more fertilizers of any kind and make sure fertilizers from other sources are not applied near the hydrangea shrubs. That includes lawn fertilizers (high in nitrogen) and weak fertilizers too, things like coffee grounds, liquid seaweed or liquid fish (fish emulsion).
Here is a good website with lots of hydrangea information (for when you have some reading time):
http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/
Luis
Thanks so much luis for the information. I will certainly save this link and read it.