Hello, vignewood. Here are some possibilities. Of the four, I would guess that 1 and 3 may apply more than the others.

1. Getting caught in a late spring freeze is a very common problem. You can usually tell if this has happened if you notice whether the new growth originated from the base of the plant as opposed to the old stems. You will get blooms next year provided the same thing does not happen again. Hayseedman has a thread that discusses winter protecting hydrangeas; see the link below.

2. Pruning of hydrangeas that bloom on old wood is another but, this should not apply since you stated that you were careful about this.

3. Planting hydrangeas that are not hardy to one's zone can result in plants that return every year but whose flower buds do not make it. For example: When first planted, the hydrangea blooms fine but, as it gets taller/wider and its microclimate cannot protect the flower buds any longer, flower production goes down considerably or even ceases.

This is basically another form of scenario #1 and can apply to some florist hydrangeas. That is because florist hydrangeas are fed a weird diet of fertilizers/growth hormones/etc to make them bloom huge flowers, in a temp controlled green-house environment, when they are very young and at un-natural times of the year.

4. After 4 years, some people rejuvenate hydrangeas by doing some severe pruning to the last pair of leaf buds. They do it either because flower production is down considerably or because the flowers are smaller each year. They either prune all the stems or limit the pruning to only the oldest stems, in which case you remove one third of the oldest stems right to the ground -immediately after the blooms appear- so that, in three years, you should not have any old stems. This will obviously kill flowers for the next Spring but some people claim it has worked for them (I have not tried this).

Hope this helps you determine what could be going on in your case,
Luis

Here is a link that might be useful: Overwintering Hydrangea macrophylla winter protection

Hi, I too have the same problem. I'm zone 7 and I get a few blooms here and there on a huge plant. I have another which is in quite a bit of shade and did not get one bloom this year. I do not prune. Other plants in my neighborhood are loaded with blooms, and it's driving me crazy.

Good morning, robinsch. See if one of those items that I listed applies to your situation. Concentrate on items 1 & 3 if your plants are florist hydrangeas. They tend to somewhat weak outside of a non-controlled greenhouse environment. Also consider the following ones since your problem is low flower production.

* most part-shade flowering plants need some amount of sun to produce flowers. When we plant them in "too much" shade, flower production suffers down. Some varieties of hydrangea will do that as will azaleas/rhododendrons. The problem is trying to find the right balance of sun and shade, specially when the shrubs keep getting bigger every year. So, what works one year may be too much or too little the next year.
* high nitrogen fertilizers used in excess thru the landscape can force plants to concentrate on growing as opposed to producing flowers. The best type of fertilizer for a small shrub is about 1/4 cup of a slow release, balanced fertilizer applied around the drip line twice a year (May, August) in the South and once a year (June) in the North. Increase to 1 or 2 cups for large shrubs. A NPK Ratio such as 17-17-17 is considered balanced (17% nitrogen, etc); do not panic if you have to choose one where some of the numbers are off by less than 3 or so percentage points.

Luis

Geez, i'm in the same situation. The woman i work for has a huge Hydrangea that hasn't bloomed in at least 3 years. It is surrounded by Pachysandra. I was thinking this was the problem.

I've been reading that maybe she should cut it back NOW. I'm almost tempted to tell her this. I don't think it would hurt, would it?

I also read, you can put pine needles around the bottom of the plant. She has a ton of needles so i'm going to try it.

Robin