I don't live in zone 3...I live in zone 4....but my two ESummers look like crap.....I am beginning to think this was a hoax on the public to sell millions of dollars worth of these plants...I have talked to many, many people who have planted these in the past 2 years since they were introduced...and except for a few people on this forum that had good luck...everyone elses have failed miserably..my sisters husband worked for Bachmans for 40 years...he knows what he is doing with these...and theirs looks even worse than my two plants that really look more like they won't make it til the year 2006........Michele >^,,^

We sold some of these at work last year, and at least half of them didn't even survive. They're real disappointments. :^(

Posie - do a search of this site. There have been several discussions on this plant. It seems there are more 'disappointments' than positives with Endless Summer.
Mine has survived. Looks good...nice green bush but blooms? Not a one!

Jan

Here is a link that might be useful: more on Endless Summer

Back in late July I posted that my enless summer had reached 6" and had a 4 1/2 bloom. Well it is now 10" high and hasn't had any more blooms. I think I may dig it out and replace it with something I can be sure will grow. I am in zone 4.

Well I think the thing that bothers me the most about the ES is that we all paid a very high price for these plants....I think most were between $40.00 to maybe $25.00...and this was on the highest praise from all the nurseries around here and also on the local TV stations..when you bought them at the nurseries they were full of blooms and looked beautiful,,they were obviously grown and tested under conditions that in no way reflected the normal gardeners conditions....,,I would just like to know why almost none of them even bloomed or survived the winter....really...I think this has been a disgraceful hoax on the public....costing everyone money we could all use to fill our gas tanks UP WITH LIQUID GOLD..MICHELE..>^,,^<...>

Endless Summer looks SOOO gorgeous at the nurseries. But the ones I have seen in people's yards look puny, small, sad. I haven't seen any that are full and lush like they are in their plush retail setting. I managed to resist, which was actually not too hard because of the PRICE. Yikes. But despite the fact that nobody I know in the Twin Cities metro has been able to have their ES thrive, every visit to the nurseries I see those ESs being loaded into carts for purchase. Somebody tell me that their ES is thriving and then let me in on the secret so I can feel better and not so cynical about this very profitable hoax that has been unleashed on the trusting MN gardeners.

Came across the thread posted below. There are some success stories with ES. But.....note the zones from which those success stories are coming!

Also...doing a search on the hydrangea forum will yield many threads on ES. Very mixed experiences even in the warmer zones. Opinions seem to be that it takes at least three years before ES performs.....if it performs. Once again, note the zones of the posters.

Depressing. The future of ES doesn't look too promising in Minnesota. But perhaps giving it 3-4 years to establish might help?
Jan

Here is a link that might be useful: Endless summer in warmer zones

I've been a lurker for quite a while...this is my first post.

I've had mixed results with my 3 Endless Summers; for the most part I would say they've been positive. All three were purchased and planted in June of last year. The best performing one was planted against the garage wall facing east...it's also the only one that I covered during the winter. It's huge...almost 4 feet tall and covered with big beautiful blooms. I gave it some Miracle Grow slow release this spring (10-10-10), I water it constantly and occasionally throw it some coffee grounds. I also planted one on the west side of my house, and it gets a lot of hot afternoon sun. I didn't give it any winter cover last year. It's not as tall (maybe 1-1/2 feet), but it also has a lot of blooms. I will cover it this winter and see how it does.

My third one did nothing but send up one teeny tiny shoot - maybe 6 inches tall right now. Also did not give it any winter protection.

I consider myself lucky after reading the above posts about ES. I planted two late August 2004. I believe they were in two gallon containers. I put a chicken wire cage around them and filled with oak leaves after frost took the leaves. Despite the protection I gave, they both died back to the ground. This year they only grew to 1 1/2 feet but have been covered in blooms since early June. They have really slowed down recently, however. They get about a half day of sun on the north side of my deck.

I bought mine from Cub this spring for $14.99. It wasn't doing very well until the end of July and has been blooming "endlessly" since then even though it is only about 1 1/2' high. I noticed that it needs significantly more water than the plants around it. We'll see how it does next spring but so far I'm pretty happy with it.

I'm sorry to hear others aren't having much luck with their ES. Mine were new last year, bloomed themselves silly, and rebounded nicely from winter. So far I have only a little rebloom but I think more flowers are on the way. I don't even remember if I fertilized them this year..

Here's what mine looked like earlier this summer

Mine died. Might try one more time.

Huskies, I see yours are growing beautifully in some sun. How much do they get? I want to try again. How much did you mulch for winter? Are they in clay or wet soil, a low spot?
Now, they say that they should have 12" of winter mulch.
jan

The ones pictured above get a little dappled sun for an hour or so in the morning and the same again later in the evening. I also have a few that get baked for probably 4 hours in the hot afternoon sun. Those ones were even transplanted to that spot in late June. All I did with them was give extra water because they would wilt daily. They aren't wilting now and had good blooms too.

Half of mine (I have 7) are about 15 feet from my neighbor's huge pine tree which gives them their shade. I'm sure the tree also sucks a lot of the water, but I haven't noticed any problems yet. My house sits on a small hill facing west and they are planted out front in clay type soil. I heavily mulched half of mine last winter and the other half were left to make it on their own. This spring and through the summer I have seen no difference in performance or dieback between the ones that were mulched and the ones that were not. I think the only fussing I did over them was cover them in spring after they started leafing out if a frost warning was issued. Mine have been so easy and care free that I've thought about buying more.

For those that may be wondering if I just got lucky by getting good plants I will let you all know where they came from: 2 from Franks, 3 from Bachman's, and 2 from Cub Foods. All of them had flowers last year as well as this year. I wish I had a little "secret" to my succes that I could share, but I don't. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that other people will start having better luck.

Just a thought.....

I think the BIG thing with ES is location-location-location!

The ones I planted next the house get morning and late afternoon sun and after a slow start this spring, have been blooming non-stop.

The ones planted in front of the house, while they seemed to get a better start in the spring have since been struggling-not as robust looking and the leaves tend to get sun-burned--these get more sun and get the full noon to late afternoon sun.

Thanks for your inputs.....at least now I don't feel like a complete failure as a gardener .LOL Yes, I paid a healthy price for these two so will give them another year. My PeeGee's and Annabebell are doing great .

I have three ES in different growing conditions and am not happy with any of them. I planted them last year and will wait to see if things change next year. If they don't get bigger or better I will have to move them in the perennial garden where other plants can balance out the shortcomings, instead of using them as speciman plantings or focal points. But this is how they are growing so far.

West Side of house: this one was a large plant going into winter last year about 2'by 2.5' It had many blue blooms and wilted everyday and was watered daily. Came back this year with 1 stem and one huge white mophead that has been on the plant for over a month. I did not water daily this season because I thought I may have rotted it.

Late morning to early afternoon sun: 2 plants were planted late last year and have had 1 nice long lasting bloom flush. However, they have not grown much more than orginal height from last year.

Northern exposure with very late afternoon sun: this plant had maybe 2" of roots when taken out of the pot. I almost returned it. It is the tallest and widest one I have with huge huge leaves, but has had only one bloom early on.

In my experince so far ES seems very tempermental and sensitive when it comes to sun exposure. So sensitive that 1 to 2 hours more or less sun exposure can change the whole plant. I think I will stick to roses for specimen and focal point plantings.

My Es have done very well. Did nothing for them over the winter, forgot to fertilize this summer and they were fine. They face south and are in a somewhat protected area as far as wind. Up against my deck. They did die back but greened up and bloomed all summer.
Mine were quite root bound by the time I got around to planting them and thus wilted all the time over summer. watered them whenever I noticed the wilting.

Mine are in what amounts to sand with a mulch. I don't know why, after all the neglect, they survived.

Just another experience. I planted 3 Endless Summer this spring and got no rebloom on any of them, but my old Nikko Blue came through the winter fine, bloomed in June, then I had a nice rebloom in September.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in my experience, a lot of blooming shrubs will take a few years to establish well?

I have a forsythia that I bought four years ago as a 2 gallon pot, and this spring was the first spring that it really bloomed itself silly. The same is true for two lilacs and a viburnum. I also have a magnolia that I put in three years ago, and this spring was the first year that it really bloomed well.

My suspicion is that Endless Summer just requires a bit of time to establish the root mass, particularly after the rough largely snowless winter we had last year, especially if it wasn't mulched. I did mulch with about a foot of oak leaves, and mine grew about a foot high and had one beautiful bloom that lasted two months. I expect that it will be more robust next year if it behaves like any other shrub or perennial.

This spring, I was talking to a nurseryman in Battle Lake and he said that we won't really know how ES will do for fifteen to twenty years. That being said, for him, they are doing fairly well, both in his own personal garden, and for his cuctomers.

That is how things used to be released. A plant was identified as being signicantly different from others and was passed around to others. By others, I mean nurserymen and university professors for evaluation. If it was liked, it was picked up by other nurseries, and in that way, became popular. This normally took decades.

Two decades ago, big leaf hydrangeas were not even considered as viable outdoor landscape plants in MN. We've come a long way. Perhaps one day we will find that one that will perform as well as Annabelle and the PG class, but I doubt it.

But that will not stop me, nor most everyone else, from trying, from hoping, from attempting to push back winter gloom with spring and summer glory.

Hello
I am new here and so glad I found your site. I too bought 4 of these . 1st summer they were off to a great start-lots of flowers and growth. 2nd small flowers not much growth and a disapointment. they face north in a bed in front of our home. I asked about them and followed instructions for from the nursery, and am hopeful this spring will be the start, and not disapointing summer ahead. After reading all the postings-I am also wondering if we were dupped. I was wondering, with all the disapointment regarding this plant-has anyone heard from the people who made the frenzy? Any advise to be more successful with these will be most appreciated. Karen

This is what I was told about ES. They are a hybrid that is supposed to be able to bloom on either old or new growth, but some of them revert back to one of the parent plants so may only bloom on old growth or the reverse. That is what may be happening to some of the plants. I have one that does just fine with the foliage but no blooms - probably one of the ones that blooms on only old growth of which I had none.

Tania:

someone gave you some bad info. Endless Summer is not a hybrid - it is a macrophylla. It does not revert back to a parent plant.

For many MN gardeners, this will be their third growing season with ES. This plant takes a good three years to establish itself in the landscape. In many cases, the second year it will grow vegetatively, rather than bloom a lot. Yes, this can be disappointing, but please be patient. How many shrubs act like a mature plant in just their second year?

Some thoughts for this upcoming season. We had relatively decent snow cover, early on, and not too many below zero nights this winter. This bodes well for all stems above ground - I hope many of you will have bud break along those stems as well as from the crown. Fertilize your plants lightly this spring - if you use a water soluble fertilizer, use one that is acid-based (such as the old Miracid). Hopefully you have your ES placed in a location where it receives good morning sun, and then some shade from the hot afternoon sun - this seems to be the best location for it. Mulch it with a good organic mulch, such as shredded bark, wood chips, cocoa bean mulch, etc, to keep the soil evenly moist.

I wish you all great success with your ES this spring!
PP

Well it's going to be fun to see how everyones ES do this summer, since this will be the third summer for most of us. Lets hope we all have alittle better luck,another season or two might do the trick, hey maybe mine and everyone elses I know who have ES will actually grow into something that resembles a hydrangia bush and not a weed. Michele >^,,^

I was told by a nursery owner at our MG meeting thet you are supposed to keep them covered until Mother's day!! He said " I know that may seem really late in the year, but fight the urge to uncover until then". SO I have mine covered with mulch just like I was told so we'll see.
Atica