For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing! Just lush leaves. (No pruning was
done.) Did the unusually wet and snowy year in the Northeast affect
these plants? I had looked forward to drying them again

Thanks,
Mary

Mary wrote:

For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing! Just lush leaves. (No pruning was
done.) Did the unusually wet and snowy year in the Northeast affect
these plants? I had looked forward to drying them again

Thanks,
Mary

I'm just outside Chicago, ours just started blooming the past week or so.

Janine

Yes, that's a pity. I don't normally like dried flowers, except for scent
(lavendar, rosebuds, etc.) but properly dried hydrangeas are almost more
beautiful than live ones.
zemedelec

How long does it take before a hydrangea blooms? I have a small one that
comes back every year, but I only get leaves (I think this is its 3rd or 4th
year)

LeeAnne

"Mary" wrote in message
m...
For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing! Just lush leaves. (No pruning was
done.) Did the unusually wet and snowy year in the Northeast affect
these plants? I had looked forward to drying them again

Thanks,
Mary

(Mary) wrote in message om...
For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing! Just lush leaves. (No pruning was
done.) Did the unusually wet and snowy year in the Northeast affect
these plants? I had looked forward to drying them again

Thanks,
Mary

In CT the less hardy varieties had bud damage from the severe winter.
Some suffered botrytis during the wet spring and the buds turned brown and fell off.

(Beecrofter) wrote in message . com...
(Mary) wrote in message om...
For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing! Just lush leaves. (No pruning was
done.) Did the unusually wet and snowy year in the Northeast affect
these plants? I had looked forward to drying them again

Thanks,
Mary

In CT the less hardy varieties had bud damage from the severe winter.
Some suffered botrytis during the wet spring and the buds turned brown and fell off.

Maybe that's what happened, but I never saw any buds forming. I
usually have full blooms by now (mid-July). Very sad indeed! I did
see others blooming while driving around, but now I'll have to look
for just leafy plants to see if I'm not alone.

thanks,
Mary

On 22 Jul 2003 10:15:26 -0700, (Mary) wrote:

(Beecrofter) wrote in message . com...
(Mary) wrote in message om...
For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing! Just lush leaves. (No pruning was
done.) Did the unusually wet and snowy year in the Northeast affect
these plants? I had looked forward to drying them again

Thanks,
Mary

In CT the less hardy varieties had bud damage from the severe winter.
Some suffered botrytis during the wet spring and the buds turned brown and fell off.

Maybe that's what happened, but I never saw any buds forming. I
usually have full blooms by now (mid-July). Very sad indeed! I did
see others blooming while driving around, but now I'll have to look
for just leafy plants to see if I'm not alone.

thanks,
Mary


Mine did not bloom this year either. It doubled in size from last
year and it is now over 4-feet across and 3 feet high. I plan to
protect the plant by piling leaves on top of it before the winter cold
arrives. The blooming mechanism is on last year growth, so if that
freezes or is pruned there will be no flowering. It is a beautiful
lush green plant, even without flowers.

Phisherman wrote:

On 22 Jul 2003 10:15:26 -0700, (Mary) wrote:


(Beecrofter) wrote in message . com...

(Mary) wrote in message om...

For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing! Just lush leaves. (No pruning was
done.) Did the unusually wet and snowy year in the Northeast affect
these plants? I had looked forward to drying them again

Thanks,
Mary

In CT the less hardy varieties had bud damage from the severe winter.
Some suffered botrytis during the wet spring and the buds turned brown and fell off.

Maybe that's what happened, but I never saw any buds forming. I
usually have full blooms by now (mid-July). Very sad indeed! I did
see others blooming while driving around, but now I'll have to look
for just leafy plants to see if I'm not alone.

thanks,
Mary



Mine did not bloom this year either. It doubled in size from last
year and it is now over 4-feet across and 3 feet high. I plan to
protect the plant by piling leaves on top of it before the winter cold
arrives. The blooming mechanism is on last year growth, so if that
freezes or is pruned there will be no flowering. It is a beautiful
lush green plant, even without flowers.

Can someone who is a hydrangea expert clarify this for me? I have the
same problem with mine. I know that winter kill is the problem, but I
think the "buds" that get winter-killed are not the flower buds (as they
would be with a lilac e.g.) They are buds which will form new branches
the next year, and these branches will then form flower buds during the
summer. Either way I'd have to prevent freezing, but it does make a
difference in the pruning method.

So, when pruning a mop-head hydrangea macrophylla, do I:

(1) cut off the faded flowers but leave all the new buds intact, since
those are all my next year's flowers, assuming they don't freeze... or

(2) cut all the old stems right back to 18-24", or to the point where I
want the new growth to start next year; don't worry about cutting off
some buds, because the flower buds haven't formed yet ????

I've tried researching this in gardening books and they all say
different things.

- Alex

In article , Alexander Pensky
wrote:

Mine did not bloom this year either. It doubled in size from last
year and it is now over 4-feet across and 3 feet high. I plan to
protect the plant by piling leaves on top of it before the winter cold
arrives. The blooming mechanism is on last year growth, so if that
freezes or is pruned there will be no flowering. It is a beautiful
lush green plant, even without flowers.

Can someone who is a hydrangea expert clarify this for me? I have the
same problem with mine. I know that winter kill is the problem, but I
think the "buds" that get winter-killed are not the flower buds (as they
would be with a lilac e.g.) They are buds which will form new branches
the next year, and these branches will then form flower buds during the
summer. Either way I'd have to prevent freezing, but it does make a
difference in the pruning method.

So, when pruning a mop-head hydrangea macrophylla, do I:

(1) cut off the faded flowers but leave all the new buds intact, since
those are all my next year's flowers, assuming they don't freeze... or

(2) cut all the old stems right back to 18-24", or to the point where I
want the new growth to start next year; don't worry about cutting off
some buds, because the flower buds haven't formed yet ????

I've tried researching this in gardening books and they all say
different things.

- Alex

Pruning for shape can be done in autumn after the shrub ceases to bloom.
But for best bloom, pruning is done in late winter or early spring, when
buds are most evident, & the buds define where pruning cuts are made.

As a generality, if you have kept the dried flowerheads on the branches
until winter's end, just before spring trim the flower stems back to the
first fat pair of buds. You can also underlimb a bit if it's a Bigleaf
cultivar that flops to the ground with rangy bottom limbs, as any flowers
produced down there will just lay on the ground, &amp blooms will be
bigger if encouraged mainly on the upright growth. Letting it go all wild
might get more flowers, but they'll be smaller flowers that wear out
faster. A bit of trimming, even if it costs a few buds, encourages huge
flowers, & some cultivars will be inspired to bloom from July to as late
as November without interuption (more commonly July to October or
September).

Why a shrub wouldn't bloom is a hard call. Stress factors would include:
too much shade (they like partial shade); too little moisture (older
shrubs are very drought-hardy & the leaves could look quite nice, but
still not energentic enough to set buds); too wet from clayey soil;
depleted soil (heavy bloomers require a lot of feeding, certainly nothing
less than an azalea fertilizer in spring, but perhaps something stronger,
plus a couple times through the year); or a late-occurring freeze killing
buds just as they started swelling. I'm also of the opinion that tinkering
with pH levels to turn flowers bright pink stresses the shrub, which
really prefers acidic soil, & no shrub likes its pH levels changing
radically from month to month.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Phisherman wrote in message . ..
On 22 Jul 2003 10:15:26 -0700, (Mary) wrote:

(Beecrofter) wrote in message . com...
(Mary) wrote in message om...
For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing! Just lush leaves. (No pruning was
done.) Did the unusually wet and snowy year in the Northeast affect
these plants? I had looked forward to drying them again

Thanks,
Mary

In CT the less hardy varieties had bud damage from the severe winter.
Some suffered botrytis during the wet spring and the buds turned brown and fell off.

Maybe that's what happened, but I never saw any buds forming. I
usually have full blooms by now (mid-July). Very sad indeed! I did
see others blooming while driving around, but now I'll have to look
for just leafy plants to see if I'm not alone.

thanks,
Mary


Mine did not bloom this year either. It doubled in size from last
year and it is now over 4-feet across and 3 feet high. I plan to
protect the plant by piling leaves on top of it before the winter cold
arrives. The blooming mechanism is on last year growth, so if that
freezes or is pruned there will be no flowering. It is a beautiful
lush green plant, even without flowers.

Well I'm glad to see I'm not alone (no offense)! Let's hope we fare
better next year. And yes, it is very lush on its own.

Mary

paghat wrote:

Pruning for shape can be done in autumn after the shrub ceases to bloom.
But for best bloom, pruning is done in late winter or early spring, when
buds are most evident, & the buds define where pruning cuts are made.

Yeah... but I've found that even when I leave buds on, and the buds
survive and turn into shoots during the summer, they often don't bloom,
and it seems to be related to a hard winter. 2001-2 was very mild here
in Cleveland and I had plenty of blooms in 2002. 2002-3 was a rock
solid frozen winter, and it doesn't look like I'll have any blooms.

Winters in Cleveland are unpredictable, sometimes as cold as Minnesota,
other times as mild as Seattle.


You can also underlimb a bit if it's a Bigleaf
cultivar that flops to the ground with rangy bottom limbs, as any flowers
produced down there will just lay on the ground

Not my experience... there are rangy bottom limbs that lie on the
ground, but if these flower, the flowers themselves will be upright.
The new shoots bend themselves upward 90 degrees before putting out a
flower.

Why a shrub wouldn't bloom is a hard call. Stress factors would include:
too much shade (they like partial shade); too little moisture (older
shrubs are very drought-hardy & the leaves could look quite nice, but
still not energentic enough to set buds); too wet from clayey soil;
depleted soil (heavy bloomers require a lot of feeding, certainly nothing
less than an azalea fertilizer in spring, but perhaps something stronger,
plus a couple times through the year); or a late-occurring freeze killing
buds just as they started swelling. I'm also of the opinion that tinkering
with pH levels to turn flowers bright pink stresses the shrub, which
really prefers acidic soil, & no shrub likes its pH levels changing
radically from month to month.

I've considered all the above and I'm still going with the late freeze.
The blooms are already too pink! My daughter asks me if I can turn them
blue. It seems to take more than just a couple dousings with Miracid
though. :-)

- Alex

For a few years I've had countless lovely large blooms on my 2
hydrangeas, and this year nothing!

We have two Hydragenas, a young Oak Leaf that was just planted into a whisky
barrel a few months ago and a lovely mophead that was here when we bought the
house alnost two years ago. Last year the mophead was full of blooms from
early in the year until very late into the fall (we are in So Cal.) But this
year we just finally got two blooms this past week or so. I think there might
be a few more coming up, but not nearly as striking a show as last year. We
were told by the homes former owner that she just cut it back every winter to
almost nothing, which she did for us when she moved two years ago. So we did
the same thing this year... but sigh, it's just not doing very well bloom wise.
The oak leaf has got quite a few lovely white blooms though. :-) I'm so happy
to see that one doing well as it was a very hard plant to locate for purchase.
We saw it in a magazine and just had to have it for it's lovely fall color.
The leaves are amazing in fall. Big and beautiful and full of color.
Rachel

Alexander Pensky wrote:

Phisherman wrote:

Mine did not bloom this year either. It doubled in size from last
year and it is now over 4-feet across and 3 feet high. I plan to
protect the plant by piling leaves on top of it before the winter cold
arrives. The blooming mechanism is on last year growth, so if that
freezes or is pruned there will be no flowering. It is a beautiful
lush green plant, even without flowers.

Can someone who is a hydrangea expert clarify this for me? I have the
same problem with mine. I know that winter kill is the problem, but I
think the "buds" that get winter-killed are not the flower buds (as they
would be with a lilac e.g.) They are buds which will form new branches
the next year, and these branches will then form flower buds during the
summer. Either way I'd have to prevent freezing, but it does make a
difference in the pruning method.

So, when pruning a mop-head hydrangea macrophylla, do I:

(1) cut off the faded flowers but leave all the new buds intact, since
those are all my next year's flowers, assuming they don't freeze... or

(2) cut all the old stems right back to 18-24", or to the point where I
want the new growth to start next year; don't worry about cutting off
some buds, because the flower buds haven't formed yet ????

I've tried researching this in gardening books and they all say
different things.

Hydrangea macrophyllas will bloom from the growth that was generated the previous year, aka old wood.
Consistantly pruning back 18-24 inches may very well remove any of that previous year's growth, therefore
resulting in no flowers. Provided your climate is suitable, pruning off the dried flower heads and just back to
the first or second set of buds is usually sufficient to assure a tidy plant AND flowers. More extensive pruning
can be done to control size - typically it is recommended that older, very woody canes be removed to encourage
new, more vigorous growth and this will help to keep the plant in size check. Or, you can go ahead and cut back
long leggy stems with the understanding that they will not produce flowers that season. I usually do this in
March in my area, when the new buds are quite visible. There is also the option of not pruning at all, other than
to remove obviously dead wood and old, winter-ratty flowerheads. I tend towards this practice 80% of the time,
allowing the shrub to grow unchecked.

Generally, lack of flowering with hydrangeas is due to either incorrect pruning methods or winter cold which
damages the dormant flower buds and/or causes dieback of the last season's growth.

pam - gardengal