Identify my hydrangea and what am I doing wrong?

11 years ago

Hi! I have a hydrangea which was planted a year ago (used to be a single stem with a single leaf :) ) and it has developed lots of stems and grown considerably since. Last year, it put forth a cluster which only produced about three white flowers along the edges. I chalked it up to it being a young plant and left it alone to see what it did this year. After frost, I pruned some dead branches which has snapped due to heavy snows, and it responded by producing lots of new leaves on its new stems, along with three separate bloom clusters (not sure what these are called... I'm a hydrangea newbie). This time, only one of the clusters produced three white flowers, and the rest of the cluster never bloomed. I googled around a bit and saw the lacecap variety, but I am not sure mine is lacecap. Anyhow, I was wondering if I could get help identifying my hydrangea variety and if anyone has any advice to get good blooms next year. Thanks in advance for your help!

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Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 years ago
It looks to be a big leaf hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla, which can produce either mophead OR lacecap flowers, but it would be impossible to tell what variety without seeing any flowers.

How to encourage better flowering would depend a lot on where you are located. I will say that the plant looks a bit stressed - color is off and it looks like it may be in a pretty exposed situation (too much sun?), which is not doing it a lot of favors :-)
dimaryb
Original Author
11 years ago
Wow thanks for the information! You are correct, the plant is in a very sunny location. I live in zone 6A. The plant started off with better color this spring and looked stronger but with the hotter weather has gotten lighter and some leaves look burnt, as seen in the picture. I really like it in its current location but am afraid it won't thrive there due to the constant sun.
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 years ago
Yes, full sun is not an ideal situation for these types of hydrangeas. They are by nature woodland understory plants and prefer some shade, ideally throughout the hot part of the day. Or all day filtered shade :-) And depending on where in zone 6 you are located and the type of winter you experienced, your hydrangea may have experienced winter cold damage, which can affect the shrub's ability to bloom heavily.

I'd suggest you find a shadier, more protected location for this hydrangea and plant a more sun tolerant selection in its place, like any of the dozens of cultivars of Hydrangea paniculata. With plenty of water, these will grow in full sun and they are also not impacted by winter cold affecting the flowering.