I have a hydrangea (mop) I pruned it in Dec/Jan with the help of the kind folks here on this forum. My question now is...will it have blooms this year? and if so, when do the blooms start showing? Should I be feeding it with something?
Flowers in summer on new growth as well as from overwintering buds. Fertilize if leaves have poor color and plant is not too wet or too dry, with one of those being the actual cause instead of soil infertility. Best to sample soil and have it tested before fertilizing.
Hi Ron, What month in the summer? Do I sound anxious? LOL. Okay, except for a bit of dark ridges on a couple of leaves as a result of frost damage. The leaves are very nice and green. The hydrangea has been there for years. When I moved here in December, it was quite large but all the stalks and mopheads were just bent over laying on the ground. So, that's when I pruned it. Now I have tons of leaves budding out all over the place. ps. I still can't tell the difference between last years growth and this years growth on this or any other plant. Thanks Ron.
Hi Ron, I went out and took a photo of my hydrangea today so you can see how it is doing. To me, if it isn't dead it's doing great. lol ~ I have no idea what kind or color this hydrangea is. I welcome any suggestions on how I can continue to provide good care for my plant. Thanks again.
don't know your zone...i'm in 6b. i have two - one in front of the front porch (fairly shaded until mid-late afternoon and then full sun) and the other in the back yard gets sun for most of the day except for a few hours around noon when the tree gives it some shade. obviously the one in back doesn't do as well because it gets a bit too much sun. in fact, i thought i lost it as there was no new growth when the one out front is going gangbusters. there is some new growth coming right from the base...so it'll be another year of struggling (thought i was past that as last year it grew really well). the one out front has buds forming and they should be opened within a month. you can use that for comparison with yours...depending on your zone and the sunlight it's getting. actually, your's is a little fuller than mine at the moment. i don't see buds though (which doesn't mean anything as it's not a real close up shot). since you pruned, you won't have as many blooms since it'll only be the new growth ones. are you absolutely sure this blooms on old wood and new?? if you're wrong and it only blooms on old, then you might get very, very few blooms and maybe even none if you did a severe pruning. only time will tell. hydrangea are thirsty, thirsty, THIRSTY!!!! so, water frequently and deeply - especially if it hasn't rained in a few days. extra water will have them looking really really full and i found with the one in the back, since it gets more sun, that watering every day (unless it rains) is a bit of a necessity for it to do well.
Hi Joclyn, Thanks for your note. I am in zone 8b. Fraser Valley, BC. I haven't noticed any flower buds on my hydrangea yet. Where do they form so I can watch for them? Maybe I won't get any blooms but that's okay, I'm just glad I haven't killed it (at least it has grown lots of leaves) lol. There are new leaves coming out of the base of the wood too. It would be 'awesome' to see some blooms though. I wonder what color they will be? My hydrangea is on the east side of my house in the backyard. It gets sun in the early part of the day. We get a lot of rain here but I have been it a deep watering it anyway. What do you feed yours and how often? I have no idea if it blooms on old wood or new. I can't tell the difference but I'm sure I will learn. Thank you Joclyn!
east side is actually a good spot...they do better when they're shaded from the hot afternoon sun. and you're in 8b so you definitely want to keep it away from the afternoon sun...i'm just getting away with it here - with the one bush...the other one is suffering because about half of the neighbors tree came down late last summer - so that one is getting much more full sun now...i'm going to have to move, it think. the buds will form in various spots on the stalks...pretty much close to the top though (usually no more than 6 inches below the top end of the stalk). initially, they look just like the leaves and then they start to bulge outward and are usually a bit reddish in color. if you can ask some of the neighbors what the color the flowers were in previous years as well as the shape, you can get an idea of what type hydrangea you have. once you know that, you can figure out whether it blooms on old, new or old and new wood. flowers that look like big pom-poms usually come from old wood. especially if the flowers have changed color over the years from pink to blue to purple or if there's a combonation of those colors on the one bush (that would be a 'nekko blue' and it's the only one that you can actually force a change of flower color on). flowers that look like small pom-poms with little lacy bits surrounding i think bloom from old & new wood. not sure as i don't have that type. there's a pom-pom type flower that is small and it's color is white - that one blooms from new wood. that particular one (sorry, i don't know the name) gets pretty tall - easily grows to 6 feet. i know it'll be frustrating, you're really just going to have to wait and see if you get flowers or not. ask the neighbors though...maybe we can figure it out if they can give you some feedback.
Hi Joclyn, Okay, here I am running out to see if I can see buds. I do but they could be just some new leaves. I'll keep watching and I'll also ask my neighbor if he can possibly remember what color they were. In December when I moved here, they were simply big ol' faded pompoms just leaning over and sprawled on the ground. I think I remember seeing a tinge of blue in them. Well, we'll just have to wait and see. I gave them a good watering yesterday and it looks like we're going to have a very nice sunny day here. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all your help again Joclyn!
big pom-poms probably means blooms on old wood. with the trimming back, you may have gotten a few of them and left others. i hope what you see is buds!! if not, you'll have spectacular display next year!!
Ours in the southern hemisphere colour up just for Christmas (our summer) So I would expect you to have some starting to show as small blooms now. [May to mid May) However I have found a hard prune will often give a good crop the next season. Liz
Does anyone know how long it takes a Pee Gee Hydrangea to bloom after it has been planted? Thanks! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I should also add that I planted it about 4 weeks ago. I'm just wondering if it will bloom this summer? Or does it take a couple years once planted to begin to bloom?
That is good info, thanks :) I planted mine in the fall and never knew hoe much to water them. I thought the ground/ soil looked dry so I've been watering them every 2-3 days. They get sun almost all day and I am in zone 6a as well. I'll start watering them every day and hopefully they'll start to do a little better. How do you know how much to water each time? Do you completly soak the ground so you can see water standing on top, or is that too much?
