Endless Summer never starts

19 years ago

Hi all...I have several Endless Summers around our house...3 on the north side of the house (fairly shady) and 6 in the back of the house (western exposure -- lots of afternoon sun). I started with the ones on the northern side of the house first (3 years ago). The first year they went in they were magnificent. Last year, absolutely no blooms. This year 2 of the plants each have one flower head. They get plenty of water and are otherwise healthy appearing. Last year, I put in the 6 on the west side of the house. They started off as smaller plants, yet each bush has multiple blooms and they are doing really well. I am thinking about the south side of the house and have thought about moving the ones on the north side to the south side. The southern exposure is somewhat brutal with all day sun -- really no shade at all. I called the nursery to ask if it would be wise to move them and they said that it might be too much sun. Does anyone have an opinion on this? It's funny because we had 2 different landscape plans drawn up and they both put Endless Summer on the north side of the house, but I just don't know if they're getting enough sun there. The plants are otherwise very healthy looking -- about 3 feet tall and a little wider than that. There are small bugs (they look too small to be earwigs) in many of the developing leaves -- could this be a problem?

I'd be grateful for any opinions you could offer.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

bogie
19 years ago
I think you are right in assuming that they are not getting enough sun. Both of my ES's get full sun for at least 4 hours and bloom nicely. However, I am not sure that they can handle full sun throught the day - expecially if it gets hot where you are.

There isn't anything that says you can't experiment. Maybe put just one of them on the south side and see what happens. If it doesn't thrive, then it is back to the drawing board (and you can move it back into a shadier spot). If it does, then you can move its two companions.
poultryguy
19 years ago
In most situations they will burn in southern exposures without the help of a structure or trees to shade them from the midday sun. Endless Summer is a Hydrangea macrophylla, so it still goes by the old rules for sun exposure. East or West faces usually work well for giving enough direct sunlight to bloom well, with some reprieve from the hottest sun.

IÂve had my Endless Summer hydrangeas in for two years now and they arenÂt doing very well after this springÂs peculiar hot/cold snap. I lost one out of a group of three, the other two are just now beginning to recover. I wouldnÂt give up hope, hydrangeas are resilient creatures and some plants just take longer than others to get situated and happy in their new homes. If you arenÂt happy with the northern planted ones you could certainly wait till fall and transplant them to another location though.

Regards,
Dan
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entling
19 years ago
I'm getting fed up with mine! I have 1 ES & 1 'Penny Mac.' ES is a budless wonder & PM has 1 bud. I know the April cold snap is partly responsible but I would think by this point they should be starting to develop some more buds. And yes, I am getting sick of their "drama queen" wilting at the least bit of heat. I'm thinking about threatening them with the shovel.
ditaroman
19 years ago
Hi, I am visiting this forum to check the forumers experience on ES.
This the second year for my ES and had only 1 miniscule flower head in early spring. It has been growing nicely and healthy but no sign of budding at all. The two ES Blusing Bride I bought this year are blooming their heads off.
karen_w
19 years ago
My Endless Summer (in full sun) is covered with blooms and we got SNOW in April!
I have a drip hose threaded through my full sun hydrangeas because they droop at mid-day like they've never been watered even the day after a rain, but in my zone that seems to be what they like.
On the advice of a senior citizen who lives in my town and grows awesome hydrangeas, I never uncover them until May 1 and I don't prune until June 1. I'm always amazed when I prune how many leaf buds are growing on dead-looking twigs. Maybe some bloomless people are prunung too early and discarding potential blooming stalks?
Karen