Endless Summers of no blooms...I have hydrangea-cidal tendencies!

12 years ago

I've been looking through some of the prior threads on "Endless Summer" but haven't found an answer to my question as to why these things don't bloom for me here. They are about 4 years old now.

There is very little die-back over winter, so they are these huge plants (3-4feet tall and round). One has a southeastern exposure and one a northern exposure. Both are on a drip system and get regular water every 2nd day during the growing season. They're in reasonably enriched garden soil at neutral pH and get granular fertilizer at least a couple of times a summer. I'm not willing to winter protect, which I don't even do with my roses (we are really 6a here, not 5b). But there is not much die-back most winters so I don't think that can be a huge part of the problem.

Some years I've had an okay first bloom and a scattered bit of rebloom. This year, almost nothing, a couple of blooms here and there.

Anyway, one of these guys is in prime garden bed real estate where all the roses who are his neighbors are blooming their heads off. So if I can't figure out how to get better performance from him, I've a hankerin' to either move him or shovel him off to that great garden in the sky...any hints that don't involve a lot of labor on my part to get him to up his game?

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Comments (6)

hokierustywilliamsbu
12 years ago
try no grandular fert. too much and you get foliage and no blooms....
stlgal
Original Author
12 years ago
hmmm, I would never have thought that leaving the fertilizer out would help on the blooms but that does make sense. And it is easy enough to try next season.

I figured there were vagaries of our weather that were causing it to often behave badly, some magic to when you cover and uncover them in winter in this zone and I haven't ever winter protected; maybe I'll try as an experiment before I go all hydrangeacidal on them. I've also heard many others in the Chicago area complain about trying to get these to reliably bloom, so figured that our wild weather swings may do a major number on them some years.
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brian_zn_5_ks
12 years ago
Among my fellow nursery peers we secretly call this plant "Endless Bummer" because we all have heard complaints from customers about "great foliage and no bloom".

It's not a bad plant, it can perform magnificently for many gardeners - but it just isn't a guaranteed success for every gardener in every garden. You want guarantees in your garden, try, I dunno, petunias. or marigolds...

So, try something different with it next season, see what happens, it may respond and be the most gorgeous thing you ever seen. But if not, realize that you are in good company with many other gardeners - and do what we all should do with plants that don't work in our garden - rip it out and try something else.

brian
stlgal
Original Author
12 years ago
:-) LOL...I love that, it will be my new name for them now! Thanks for the comment, I feel better knowing it's not just me. I can get most kinds of plants to perform, even some fairly fussy roses, but these guys baffle me, no discernable rhyme or reason I could figure out as to why they bloomed some or not at all. They were giving me a gardening confidence crisis...

I even sort-of did winter protect them last year with some soil (I was winter protecting some first year roses and had a bit of dirt left over). So at least I would have thought they'd improve, relative to other years. And they didn't have the stress of die-back after they'd broken dormancy as far as I know. Maybe they just don't like our la Nina years, or I looked at them wrong. No idea...

I think that, rather than commit hydrangeacide quite yet, in spring I'll move the one in the back to a new location that is more of an North-western side location, not quite as much sun and a little wetter. That spot isn't so great for roses anyway, and the hydrangea foliage should at least not be stressed for water or fried in the sun there.

They are pretty foliage plants, when they aren't in places where I'm constantly eying their spot and thinking how many flowers I'd have if I had a rose there instead... Thanks again!
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
12 years ago
I grow a lot of hydrangeas and roses but not together. Here hydrangeas won't take full sun and roses won't bloom in the morning only sun that hydrangeas prefer. My garden is never fertilized, only compost mulched spring and fall. Al
stlgal
Original Author
12 years ago
Yes, the backyard location is more suitable for roses than this hydrangea anyway, but I do get away with it in this zone. It is up against a fence which protects from the heat and direct sunlight of afternoon sun, but a southern exposure so more light than it probably needs. It would often be too dry if I didn't keep it well watered with the drip system. I think it will have to move...

I will abandon the fertilizer on these guys. And I see from the other thread that in zone 5b/6a I would potentially have better luck if I built a saran wrap and leaves structure around these for winter and then removed the protection at just the right time, but that doesn't really sound like something I want to have to look at in my front yard either. Who knew hydrangeas were more the prima donnas than my fussiest roses--I may have to stick with the roses instead.