Thought I'd post a picture of my Endless Summers, with my girl posing for the picture. This is their second full season and I've only had success with them on new wood but that doesn't stop them from giving a good show. They get sun most of the day and I water them well if I see them beginning to wilt. They are very much pink this year but were multi last year in pink/blue/lavender. Personally I like the multi color look so I'll try a bit of alum. sulfate and see what happens.
Very nice! Your dog is gorgeous too! Do you have any pics from last year with the multicolored look? That sounds really neat!
If you want them to bloom on anything besides just new wood, you'll either have to protect them for the winter--their old wood buds aren't any hardier or more resistant to cold than any other macrophylla, what makes them good for your area is the ability to bloom on new wood so you can skip the protection and still get blooms every year.
Thanks ecrane. Gracie's always on patrol and loves her picture taken. I made sure to leave "dog friendly" paths through the garden and on many perennials I put grow thru rings so they don't step on the plants. It works! I don't think I have any pictures from last year but will have to look. They are very cool looking when multi colored and I have Salvia May Night, Black Knight Butterfly Bush, Blue Phlox, Orange Coneflowers and Peach Flambe Heucheras so the multi colored made a nice color combo. I protect 3 other macrophyllas but haven't had success getting them to bloom anyhow (except I do have blooms on one this year - a miracle!) so I won't bother protecting the ES as long as I can get them on new wood. As I get older, easy maintenance is my goal.
I have has Hydrangea 'David' for 4 years, just beautiful every year but for some reason so far it has onle perfect foilage, no sign of blossoms, cannort figure that out. I like them because they are free of any mold.
Medinac, your are just wonderful
I'm not familiar with that one--is it supposed to be a rebloomer? If not then you need to protect it for the winter or else you won't get blooms, and also don't prune it too late in the year. Otherwise if it is supposed to be a rebloomer, I'd look at the conditions it's in...is it getting enough sun? While they definitely don't like full sun, if you put them in full shade they won't bloom well, they need at least some morning sun. And if it's getting too little fertilizer that could do it. Or too much nitrogen fertilizer will make it grow lots of leaves but not bloom.
Thanks, Ecrane, For more then 50 years I have grown 'DAvid' never had any problems before, they bloom very faithfully year after yea, it gets morning sun. it does very well in my zone and even less. The only problen I could have it had too much nitrogen ferilizer, I usually use Miracle gr, jave been using it for years on all my flowering plants, even the phlox that I have had for years does not show any blooms
Is it a macrophylla cultivar? I googled and can't find any info on one called David, except for David Ramsey which is supposed to be a rebloomer, but rebloomers are a newer thing so if you've had yours for more than 50 yrs that makes it less likely. Although honestly I don't know the origin of David Ramsey, could be it was an old variety that they discovered would rebloom sometimes--if so, it might not bloom on new wood quite as reliably as the newer cultivars, and in your zone the buds on old wood are going to tend to freeze off unless the plant is in a really sheltered location. But as long as the plant looks healthy I'd wait and see what happens next year before you worry too much.
The one I am talking about are is only about 5 years old, but thank I will see what happens next year it has been blooming every year,. Also it could be I gave you the wrong name, not trusting my own memory
Could the hydrangea be David Ramsey?
http://www.endlesssummerhydrangea.com/gallery/davidramsey.html
luis, it is not, it is pure white and shaped more like a cone but it is not the oak leaf.
This message was edited Jul 6, 2008 5:54 AM
It's probably a cultivar of Hydrangea paniculata then, those have more cone-shaped flowerheads. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=hydrangea&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=paniculata&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search H. paniculata blooms on new wood so it's not as susceptible to late freezes and people pruning at the wrong time of year like the macrophyllas. If that's what yours is and it's healthy and you haven't pruned it recently I don't know why it's not blooming this year, although too much nitrogen would still be a possibility.
Paniculatas can be hardy to Zone 3 so it is surprising when you hear of one that has problems blooming. Is it planted in dense shade perhaps?
Paniculatas can also be specially difficult to identify -well, which ones aren't- when not in bloom. Here are some pictures and names. Maybe the list of names will help you remember. If you do not see yours in here, at least have fun looking at some of these pictures. Warning, you may end up having to buy some of these!!! Hee hee hee
H. Chantilly Lace
http://www.pbase.com/rickscustomnursery/image/67403778
H. Florabunda is a large specimen with dark stems
http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/images/floribunda.jpg
H. Kyushu is a Japanese shrub with glossy looking leaves and lacy blooms
http://www.northbranchnursery.com/Hydrangeas/Hydrangea%20p%20kyushu/Hydrangea%20Paniculata%20Kyushu.htm
H. Limelight, famous for its immature green blooms
http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/63187-product.html
H. Little Lamb is a dwarf, sort of, with small flower petals
http://www.colorchoiceplants.com/little_lamb.htm
H. Peegee (Grandiflora)
http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=G960
H. Pink Diamond starts with white flowers with pink in the middle and turn bright pink by Fall
http://www.horticlick.com/p/hydrangea_paniculata_pink_diamond3.html
H. Pinky Winky, a variety of Pink Diamond with white and pink two tone flower heads
http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=41349&cid=pport0011
H. Quick Fire is an early blooming paniculata from Europe
http://www.colorchoiceplants.com/quick_fire.htm
H. Silver Dollar
http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/images/silverdollarx.jpg
H. Tardiva is the opposite of Quick Fire; Tardiva blooms very late (useful when other paniculata blooms start looking "old" and you want "new"-er blooms)
http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=D360
H. The Swan is an european paniculata too
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/HYTSP.html
H. Unique, a special version of H. paniculata 'Floribunda' whose inflorescences are not damaged by birds. The inflorescence's tip is made up of only sterile flowers.
http://www.pbortensie.com/hydrangea_paniculata_unique_gb.htm
luis. are you ever nice to guide me through this and HA HA I found it !!! It is limelight, guess it looks that color at first but after it becomes very white then as they dry the become a sort of rose color And, another reason I recognised it is I bought it from the 'White Flower Farm' where I usually buy plants I want. it is not far from here in CT.
Thank you agaon, perhaps they still may bloom, the are in the morning sun.
Here is a picture from last year beauty dried on the mantle.
Limelight starts blooming anywhere in July so you still have time. If you have not fertilized it, you are a little late but you still can. Hope you get blooms this year.
http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/limelight.html
Maria - Pretty picture of the dried Hydrangea. The pink vase and glassware really set off the blooms. I think I've decided to get Limelight next.
medinac, glad you will get one, it is really very pretty to dry too. The vase is an antique Granberry Glass. it from my collection I started when very young.
Maria - I had to put my glasses on (oh, those middle-aged eyes) when you mentioned Cranberry Glass. From the picture your vase looked.... I'm trying to find the word.... like rainbow-marbly or something. After putting on my glasses I could tell you can see the stems through it. I love Cranberry Glass, also the Emerald Green. The combo of those two at Christmas are amazing. It's nice to see the blooms dry so nicely. How do you dry yours?
After I just cut a few I put them in the vase filled with water, water evetually dehydrates and they have been in there now since about last October.
Oh, well that's certainly easy enough! Thanks Maria
you are welcome
Medinac- I'm intrigued by your multi-colored comment in your first post. Did yours bloom multi-colored or fade to multi-colored? Here's a pic of my Endless Summer. It blooms a clear blue, but fades to this amazing violet/rose/green. The pictures don't do it justice.
A different bloom.
bordersandjacks (I take it those are your pups?) - Your blue ES are truly amazing looking. They've got to be gorgeous dried! You must have some nice acidy soil or do amend it?
No, mine actually did bloom multi-colored. There was another thread going where we talked about that. Mine were planted in Aug. 05 so when they bloomed in 06 they were mostly blue with some purple then in 06 they were blue, lavenderish and pink. This year they're all pink. My guess is that the soil they were grown in was acid. After planting and acclimating to my soil, which I believe is fairly alkaline, they were in the process of turning pink. My soil probably varies in degree of alkalinity. Also, I just checked my well water that I water with and the PH was 8.4 and alkalinity was like 240 or something like that. I'm suspecting that has something to do with it too. I like the Epsoma brand products so I'm looking at something to add to the soil to lower the PH. They're all organic and slow release.
We have very acid soil and I don't amend, but this hydrangea is up against a brick wall, so I bet it's not quite as acid as other parts of our property (4.8 pH.) We're on a well, too. Micronutrients are all pretty good, although everywhere in this area has slightly elevated to high phosphate.
Jenny
P.S. Yes, the pups the border collies and terrorists.
bordersandjacks -
Here's a picture of the only one that bloomed different colors on one bloom. I was looking through the other newer hydrangea threads and their pictures are the same, with the blue and pink colors on one bloom. It's not so uncommon with the soil variations I guess. I'll send another post after this one with my neighbors' Endless Summer after she applied the Alum sulfate to all but one of them.
I really love the blue.
Hi, I am a newbie: medinac, could you please tell me what you meant by "I've only had success with them on new wood but that doesn't stop them from giving a good show" ?
Thanks :)
Endless Summer blooms on both new and old wood, but if you live in a cold climate and don't protect it over the winter then you'll lose most or all of the buds on old wood to frost and only get blooms on the new growth. For you in zone 7 though (as long as you don't prune at the wrong time of year) you shouldn't have any problem getting blooms on both old and new wood, so you'll have a longer total bloom period than someone in a colder zone would.
Hi Spunkster -
Well, here in zone 5a, the macrophylla's are prone to getting hit by frost in spring. Usually we have to protect our macrophylla's by covering them for the winter to preserve the buds on the "old wood" stems so they will bloom the following summer. For instance, I have Nikko Blue that I cover every fall to protect the buds that are forming for when summer comes so it can bloom. Our winters are usually too cold and windy that even with protection, I have a hard time getting my Nikko Blue to bloom. We had a cold spring and I waited until mid-May to uncover her. I was rewarded with a handful of blooms - which is an improvement from previous years.
Now, I have added "Endless Summer" since it was touted to be winter hardy and be able to bloom on the "old wood" without being protected for winter. I don't protect mine. I planted them in August of '05 and have never been able to get a bloom on "old wood". What happens is, they form buds nicely in Spring as the weather warms and then all it takes is one cold night of frost and the buds are killed. So, I wait until Mid-May here (our traditional time to go ahead and plant our annuals) and whatever stems I do not see any buds on, I cut down to a couple inches from the ground. Then I fertilize them with an organic fertilizer, Epsoma HollyTone. The plant will grow new stems (at a pretty quick pace now I might add) and it will set buds and bloom on this "new wood".
Now that you know all of that, since you're in zone 7a, you probably don't have that problem! Lucky you!
I got a good tip from snapple45 (I think that's the number) to use triple phosphate in Spring (I use Epsoma brand) and this will give you more blooms. I was just thinking today what good advice that was as I admired my hydrangea. I only applied it to the ones in my picture, not on any of the others to see if there is a difference. Believe me, there's a huge difference. These do get much more sun than the others but I do believe the triple phosphate has given me many more blooms.
Glad you drop in and ask questions. That's what I did and there are so many knowledgable people on these forums who are just a wealth of information.
I think that's a misconception about ES...I don't think that their old wood buds are really any less susceptible to frost than any other macrophylla, the reason they're recommended for your zone is because they also bloom on new wood so even if you don't protect it you'll still get the blooms on new wood. I have a feeling some people probably heard that it would bloom in cold zones without protection but didn't understand completely the part about blooming on new wood, so they jumped to the conclusion that its buds were hardier when they're not (if you look at the Endless Summer website, they even suggest protecting it for the winter if you're in zones 4-5 http://endlesssummerblooms.com/retail/pressroom/caring_for_your_endless_summer_hydrangea )
ok, point taken but, that is how the garden centers were marketing them here when they first came out. We were believing that the old wood was more cold tolerant of our winters and frost.
I could be wrong, but I think they were mistaken. To the best of my knowledge, the reason why they are recommended for your zone is because you can always get the new wood blooms even if the old ones froze off. Even if the old wood buds were slightly hardier, that might help the people in zone 6 but in zone 5 I would expect you'd still have trouble. I think the plant itself may also be slightly hardier--in zone 5a there are probably some macrophyllas that will die back over the winter and not come back at all, and ES should always come back for you. But that doesn't have anything to do with the flower buds, I'd still expect they'd be prone to freezing off in a late frost.
Wow, thanks for the info; I guess I will see what kind of blooms I get this spring after pruning them back this Fall for the first time (just planted them this spring, and they were pretty big when I planted them, probably 3 feet tall)
If you prune them this fall, you're going to lose some of your blooms. The old wood that is there this fall will give you your first flush of blooms next year, then the new growth that starts in the spring will give you more blooms later in the year. So unless the plant is massively overgrown I wouldn't prune (if they're only 3 ft tall I can't imagine they're that badly in need of pruning)
Just discovered I owe all of you an apology, why oh why did I call my hydrangia 'David' ? Must be getting a bit confused at my old age.
That is the name of the phlox next to it, here is 'lime light' with the phlox, both finally bloomed
Ah ha, that explains it! I have Phlox 'David' too and just love them for their hardiness and of course their fragrance. The two look great together. You had 'David' in the right location, just was thinking of the wrong plant. Don't feel bad... we all have those "moments".
Those look wonderful, Medinac, and I love your pup, too. I like them grouped like that, with the little stone path in front- very pretty.
Thanks Noreaster - It's my view from the back of the house. I really like looking at them in bloom. Now if I could just get my Paradise Blue Phlox to cooperate and grow and bloom nice, I'd be thrilled. Thanks for the compliment on my pup, she's a great hunter and keeps the shrew, rabbit and squirrel population down! She loves running through the flowers, of course I purposely left paths for them to run. :D
I'm jealous, medinac. I have 3 'Endless Summer' and 2 'Nikko Blue' and I got ONE bloom out of the 5 plants. They all died back to the ground over winter, so I knew blooms on the 'Nikko Blue' were out, since it blooms on old wood. I was hoping for more with the 'Endless Summer', though. I guess I'll have to give them more winter protection this year.
How long have you had your ES? I've heard some people say that the blooms on new wood get better as the plant gets older, maybe not many blooms in the first year or two but then they do better after that. Protecting it for the winter won't hurt of course but you may have better luck in a year or two even if you don't. Nikko Blue will definitely do best with protection though.
