Mine hasn't bloomed either. There has been a lot of discussion on the poor performance of this hydrangea, not just on this forum, but in magazines and newspapers, too. On the other hand, lots of people love them. I think, in the Chicagoland area, the April freeze did them in. There's still a very slim chance it might still flower later this summer, but I'm not holding my breath.

This fall, after the ground is frozen, I'm going to mulch it with chopped up leaves to insulate this winter. I'll remove the mulch after the spring thaw. We'll have better luck with blooms next year. :)

Neither mine, nor my mom's have set buds this year, but my aunt, who lives in Algonquin, had hers flower. I don't know how she did it, but I think they get more sun & water than mine or my mom's ES.

Mine has preformed just wonderful, lots of big head pink flowers. I have 3 that are on the east side of the house- get the morning sun. I am very pleased with them.

susan, hope it is o.k. that i looked thru your garden albums ... your gardens are absolutely gorgeous!... is that your endless summer in slide #39 or 39 in your 2005 garden pictures?

i am beginning to think that i have to (once again) replant my e.s. into a tad more sun ... it does get some morning sun, but probably not enough ...

anitamo & entling ... you should check out susan's beautiful gardens ... i looked closely again today, but, nope, still no sign of buds ...

did you see yesterday's article about e.s. in the tribune? ... i am still not giving up (grin) ... phyl

interesting subject, I have two, one planted in 2005 and one in 2006 - the pattern seems to be they do great immediately after planting, but then really, really slow down that second year in the ground.

this summer my 05 one is doing fantastic, I hit it with miracid periodically and great brilliant blue/purple blooms; otoh, my 06 one is puny, like half the size of a shoe box puny.

hopefully next year it will be on par with the other!

I planted two ES last year, and both made it thru the winter. Neither has grown more than a few inches,
and neither has bloomed.
Frankly, I just attributed that to the one,two,three year of 'sleep, creep and leap'. I didn't know...are they supposed to flush out and grow big and bloom in the first or second year? Should I be as dissapointed as the above posters? Pondy

Mine have been wonderful this year. I planted them last year. They've tripled in size and have bloomed twice and are on thier third round.

The late freeze got the first buds and they died back completely. They'd have been double the size they are now had it not been for that.

They are on the north side of the house but get morning sun, three to four hours during the height of summer. They are heavily mulched and I keep them watered. I water them daily unless it's going to rain.

I'm not in Chicago, but my Endless Summers bloomed WAY later than normal because they had to completely start over again after the April freeze. And they didn't start growing again immediately. It was like they were in shock or something for awhile before they could get going again. I had started wondering if they were dead.

They do get 4 1/2 hours AM sun, which probably enabled them to go ahead and form blooms this year. However, the blooms were not nearly as numerous or as large as they were in past years. I think they'll probably be back to normal next year, barring an April freeze!

Deanna

Hi,
I stumbled on to your forum quite by accident as I live off the coast of Massachusetts and spend my time visiting the New England forum. Due to an unusually mild winter New England had a terrific year for hydrangeas including Endless Summer. I thought I would share the link to a thread on hydrangeas started on the New England forum it is very photo heavy so it may take a while to load. Happy Gardening kt

Here is a link that might be useful: 2007 Banner Year for Hydrangeas In New England

runktrun ... can't tell you how happy i am that you *stumbled* into the midwest forum ... although i am most definitely suffering from a nasty case of zone envy now!!!

we spend a week on cape cod every summer and i simply drool over the gorgeous hydrangeas absolutely everywhere ... i just spent a huge amount of time on the link you provided ... btw your gardens are sooooo beautiful ... thank you so much ... phyl

phyl,
although i am most definitely suffering from a nasty case of zone envy now ... Funny how the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!!!
Thanks for the very generous comments. If you are a hydrangea lover I thought I would mention that Ego (George) who spends a bit of time on the Hydrangeas forum is an amazing plantsman and is really brilliant on the topic of Hydrangeas. kt