Sorry for jumping this thread, but it would not let me start a new one! Perhaps someone could help both of us???

I've been reading so much about hydrangea needing morning sun/afternoon shade and needing to be away from trees. Are these absolute necessities? My yard gets both shade and sun but not in the correct times to plant a hydrangea. Is morning shade/afternoon sun okay or would I be setting myself up for failure?

Also I've been reading that hydrangea need to be away from trees whose root systems could steal their vital nutrients, yet I have several large, old trees in the yard as well. Should I return the bigleaf mopheads I bought? :(

This post was edited by ZiggyZig on Sat, Apr 26, 14 at 18:32

It's fine. That's what this site is all about to help us with our questions that other gardeners have the answers to. I also have done a lot of research. But I never seen where anyone said about not to plant them near a tree. That's a good question and maybe someone can give an accurate answer on it.

All bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla) would prefer morning sun and afternoon shade. They can tolerate a fair amount of sun but the strong afternoon sun and heat is a little too intense for them. If sited under those conditions, you will usually encounter daily wilting even with adequate watering. That's just an unnecessary stress on the plants.

Any plant - not just hydrangeas - sited adjacent to large trees can be impacted by their far more aggressive and widespread root systems. If you encounter a lot of fine tree roots when you are digging the planting holes, just make sure you provide adequate watering to compensate and mulch well with compost to supplement nutrients.

Autumn, it's nearly impossible to assure you that your hydrangea will bloom this season. It depends entirely on how old the plant is and how it was treated by the growers. The goods news is that as long as you protect the flower buds from winter cold, it should bloom for you next year.

Are you going to be growing it in the ground or in a container?

I have had my hydrangea for 3 years and it has never bloomed. I moved it this year to a sunnier spot because it got very little sun originally. Someone told me it takes 7 years to bloom.

What kind of hydrangea is it? The only one that seems to require a period of time in the ground before flowering is the climbing hydrangea, Hydrangea anomala ssp. petiolaris. All others should bloom if not their first year, then certainly the second. Unless affected by flower bud cold damage or the predation of deer or bunnies or other plant munching critters :-)

And sun or shade requirements will vary depending on location and the type you are growing but pretty much any hydrangea will be happy and bloom well (as long as other conditions are met) with morning sun and afternoon shade or all day dappled shade.

7 years ?? If i am correct, a one gallon hydrangea is 1-2 years old, and are blooming

bsmith, not all hydrangeas will bloom as freely or as rapidly as most of the shrub forms :-)) It is a very well established horticultural fact that climbing hydrangeas take some significant time to establish in the ground after planting before they will produce flowers. 5-7 years is a standard quote for that period. Could be less.....could be more.

but that's a nikko blue, isn't that a standard mophead ?

Not sure where that conclusion came from :-) I was responding to Pat New's comment from earlier today and no particular type of hydrangea was indicated........

Oh, I see now :-) You were referring to the original question/OP. That question was addressed 3.5 years ago!! It was only the more recent comment that addressed the quoted time delay in blooming.

hahahaha yea i did not see that part !

What kind of hydrangeas are they and where do you live? Some rebloomers are more reliable than others, with Endless Summer The Original seemingly causing the most problems.

btw, it would have been more appropriate if you had started your own thread rather than tacking your question onto an old one :-)

Pat New, where are you? If you are in a cold area, the flower buds may be getting killed by low winter temperatures or by late spring frosts after the flower buds have started swelling. I can’t get reliable bloom on any of the bigleafed hydrangeas, but there are three other species of Hydrangea that bloom well here. So where you are as well as what type of Hydrangea you have are important. The other thing that may reduce bloom is really deep shade.

We are in a new home, previous owners had a plant near back yard trees. Wasnt sure the 1st year what it was and my husband mowed it to the ground. This year it has come back prerty good and the leaves resemble a hydrangea. I have no experience with this one, it has not bloomed yet. So my question do i just leave it alone and let it do its thing or do i need to trim it again. Its about 2ft now. We luve in TN moved from MI and everything plant wise is different. Do i fertilize it and when. How do i care for this plant so it will thrive

If you can post a picture of it, we can confirm if it is in fact a hydrangea and if so, hopefully what kind. Right now, just let it be except for providing a deep watering occasionally if the weather is dry. Any fertilizing (and none may be required) would be done in spring. No more pruning until we can confirm what the plant is.

Pruning will often take off the flower buds developing now for next spring’s bloom, so don’t prune, though this isn’t the case for all species of hydrangea. If it is surrounded by grass, remove the grass in a several foot diameter circle and add mulch, both to protect it from ove rly enthusiastic lawn mowing and to help keep moisture and soil temperature more even.

As GG 48 said, a close photo would help for ID since there are several species of hydrangeas. It would help to have one that includes surroundings so we can see if it seems to be well placed to keep it happy.