Hi Jan,

This was discussed on another thread, although I'll be darned if I can find it now. It might have even been in our local paper (Minneapolis). Many people in our zones have been experiencing great leafy growth, but not a hint of bloom on 'Endless Summer'. Best explanation I heard blamed it on a spell of cold weather this spring that killed buds. I have no idea, myself.

For what it's worth, you're not alone. Lack of any bloom all summer on 'Endless Summer' been very prevalent up here this year. Next year should be great, though!

Regards,
- Becky

Thanks, Becky. That's good to know. We did have a cold wave after I planted my tomatoes and they haven't done as well either.

Ditto, ditto and ditto on what Becky said.

except that Endless Summer blooms on new wood, so spring freezing is ok. Are they newly planted? I think the consensus on these plants is that they need a bit of maturity to bloom well. Rich soil helps. And some degree of sun. I have one in mostly shade and it does very minimal bloom. My others in half shade and less than half shade do much better.

Yes, I would go for the maturity answer. Mine took a couple of years and now is flowering freely though we too had a late freeze. Patience, patience!

Niether one of mine bloomed this year. In the past they have always been loaded with blooms. However this year they were already fully leafed out, and then we got a surprise spring snow. This is their 5th year in my garden, so it could be the late frost most of us experienced that have kept yours from blooming.

They do bloom on new growth, so the late freeze shouldn't be the reason. Mine get an enormous amount of sun, way more than I would have ever expected and blooms continually. Maybe yours need more sun? (at least a half day) It definitely does like rich soil and has bigger blooms if it gets a mid summer feeding. If I were you, I would top dress it with an inch or two of compost or composted manure this fall or early next spring, maybe even now, depending on when you first frost is. It would probably like some bone meal or rock phosphate too.

An article in today's paper by a local garden guru said that the late spring freeze here killed the early buds on Endless Summer & in some cases killed off much of the top growth or even killed the shrub to the ground. This was then followed by an exceptionally warm spring which prevented/reduced the setting of buds on ES, as hydrangeas prefer it cooler when setting buds. (This warm spell was then followed by 5 straight weeks in summer with no substantial rain). She also said that many ES here are only now starting to put out some new buds.

In my case, both of my ESs put out a small amount of bloom this spring, but only along the brick wall side of the shrubs. I now have maybe six newer branches with tiny buds forming, so it is a race with time to see if they have time to bloom before the first severe freeze.

The only suggestion which was made in the article was to cover ESs in spring whenever freezing weather is expected. This could also work on late bloom as well, I suppose, if anyone really cares by then.

Thank you Leslie! Finally, an explanation for ES bizarre behaviour! Now I know not to uncover them so soon. The problem was that we had temps in the 80s before that April freeze & I was afraid it would start to rot. Of course, if I'm going to the trouble of covering them up, I may as well get a less hardy but better hydrangea. :-0

In ref to the bone meal, rock phosphate suggestion... on another thread about getting them to stay blue, I learned that phosphorous affects aluminum (negatively) which affects blue (negatively).

So best to watch the amendments or compensate with alum sulfate (carefully) if you want blue flowers.

Mine started to get pinkish and I had been pushing the high-phosphourous amendments to push flowers. I since added alum sulfate and I am hoping the next flush of flowers are blue.

It must be the late freeze...mine have bloomed fine for the past two seasons, then no blooms this year.

Thanks everyone...my ES did bloom the last 2 years, so I'm going to agree with the concensus that the freeze was the culprit. Although, I would like to increase the blooms next season, and will add some extra compost and maybe some Osmocote?? Does that sound like too much???

The article Leslie quoting, especialy this passage, '... then followed by an exceptionally warm spring which prevented/reduced the setting of buds on ES, as hydrangeas prefer it cooler when setting buds.', has no horticultural merits whatsoever.
Macrophyllas setting buds (for the next year blooms) in mid July-mid August period and that is where common wisdom of 'not prune past the August' coming from.
If someone think that August is cooler than April-May then he/she should believe in such explanation.
ES is not hardier than any other macs, the only difference is the SPEED with which it sets and develops buds that allow her to bloom even on a new wood when old buds are destroyed. And then it will be 'a race with time to see if they have time to bloom before the first severe freeze', as Leslie absolutely correctly putted.

Ego45 - your comments re no horticultural merit to theory about warm spring makes sense. I still can't figure out, however, why my hydrangeas still are not forming any buds. There's not even the suggestion of a nubbin of a bud that would become a bloom by October. I think I'll treat ES as a plant that blooms on old wood, move it to a sunnier spot & hope for the best.

Mine didn't bloom either and I've had it for 3 years. Its planted right next to two 'Forever and Ever' hydrangeas, which have bloomed nicely.

Credible explanations aside, there are still widespread reports in MN and WI of well-established 'Endless Summer' hydrangeas not blooming this year -- and not from lack of vigor. And I've yet to hear (although I may hear now!) of someone in this geographic area who has had bloom this year (outside of a potted or newly purchased plant). Mine has bloomed reliably and season-long for several years now. This year it looks fantastic, but hasn't even thought about blooming. Personally, I'm chalking it up to "one of those things", and leaving it be until next year and seeing what happens.

Regards,
- Becky

This is the 4th summer for my ES. It's 1st bloom was in mid July and now has several. Mine died back quite a bit this past winter. That cold snap in April hurt it too, but I still have some flowers. Not as many as last year though. I am still getting buds on it. Mine gets close to 5 hrs of morning/early afternoon sun. I do mound it with cow manure/compost in the late Fall and the soil is good. Like Becky, I think it's just one of those years for mine.

Kat

Here is my hydrangea story for the year. I have a Forever that is the 3rd spring. I just finished pruning all the old flowers, got a whole boxful. I can see new ones coming. I have a huge flowerpot that I put over this plant all winter. I saved it from late freezes 3 times this spring, just by simply putting the pot over it. So far it's pink, can't seem to hit the mark yet on alu. sulfate. I also have a Nikko that I have had for years. It grows in a huge pot that I take in the garage all winter. It blooms a nice blue. I water it thru the winter some and start to give it alu. sulfate in Jan. It gets one third a cup every 2 months. I stop the sulfate when it gets hot, which this year was Aug. I have several friends that have Endless S. No one here has had any bloom this year. One has a Dooley that bloomed. We live in Southwest KS.

I'm in MN, and have two ES's both of which have bloomed all summer long. The parent is three years old, and the other is two years old from a branch that rooted voluntarily the first winter. They're not tall, probably only 2' or a little more, but they've had blooms all along. I transplanted both of them in May, so that may have had something to do with their size. I did not fertilize them at all, but just had them in good soil in dappled high shade.

Ego45 - Looks like alot of people are having the same problem I'm having...no blooms, but healthly looking plant.
I don't think I pruned my ES this season, except for a few dead branch tops. It hasn't bloomed once, and I don't see any buds. It has a northern exposure, but everything else in that area does well...including my Hibiscus that has huge pink flowers.
Does anyone prune their ES?

There are a few posts on this on the Hydrangea Forum, I've stated my (negative) opinion on ES on those posts. In a nutshell - huge BUST for me. What a marketing crock 'o-hooey. Blooms *RELIABLY* on new wood my a**. (yes, mine are mature bushes - bloomless mature bushes).

I'll be sticking to Annabelle and paniculatas from now on, now those are tried and true *RELIABLE* new-wood bloomers.

MXK3 - Since I never get great blooms from my Hydrangeas, I don't have anything to compare the ES to. Maybe I'm not watering deeply enough...or, not feeding it with Osmocote or something like that! What, if anything, do you feed your plants?
Jan

Mine did not bloom at all this year. Last year it was loaded ........mostly on the old wood, but lightly on the new. Enough to keep it interesting. I believe that you will still get the most bloom on old wood, even though it does bloom a little on new. That's how I have seen them act anyhows from experience. I know mine got zapped by the premature warm weather and then the very frigid front. Win some/lose some. It just simply broke dormancy and got zapped.

Jan, I suspect you just need to start investigating they type of hydrangea you are growing. Their bloom habits very immensely from one species to the next. Ask around in your area and find out which ones do best there and then invest in one. Depending on the species, I have some shrubs just loaded with bloom this year, and some with none.

Just wanted to mention that I DID get a lot of bloom on my two well-established Endless Summers last season. Most of the bloom was early, as Calliope said, followed by a small amount of later bloom sprinkled throughout the remaining season with some still opening late in fall.

This year I got only a small amount of bloom along the brick wall side of the shrubs (as I previously posted) and NO additional bloom yet as of late August. A few branch stems do have some tiny buds. Last year I had buds in all stages of development at this time of year plus fresh opening flowers. So ES has not been a total bust for me, as macrophyllas do not generally bloom at all here (unless heavily protected or you are just plain very lucky). In an earlier home closer into the metro area I did inherit an unknown Hydrangea macrophylla that did occasionally (every 3 years or so) put out a handful of blooms for me.

My ESs are on the east side of my house along the brick wall, but received no other protection and have never been fertilized, except one year when I used Aluminum sulfate (if that counts) to turn them blue. Worked pretty well.
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My issue with ES is that it is marketed to bloom on both new and old wood - therefore, no winter protection needed in colder zones, a huge boon to those of us who do not like to winter protect plants. In this regard, it has failed miserably in my garden. And no, I'm not going to winter protect. I'd rather look at well-foliated albeit bloomless plants in the summer than ugly winter protection all winter, IMO winter protection paraphernalia wrecks the serenity and subtle beauty of the winter landscape.

I didn't fertilize, so can't help you there. I don't fertilize my Annabelle nor oakleafs, and they bloom just fine, so don't think that's an excuse for the ES not to bloom.

Oh wait, I stand corrected. I did get ONE bloom out the seven ES plants I have, so they're not entirely bloomless.