I do not have this mountain hydrangea rebloomer, but most of my macrophyllas and oakleafs had a rought time with my winter and did not bloom -so far-. I would have expected that Tuff Suff and Tiny Stuff Stuff, being rebloomers, would have produced very late bloomage and maybe it will still do that. No one can tell for sure what the shrub will decide to do so give it an environment conducive to blooming as best as you can. Do not prune it since you could accidentally cut the invisible flower buds. Keep the soil evenly moist as periods of dry can make it abort the flower buds. Do not add too much fertilizer high in nitrogen, You do need sun to produce flower buds and yes, if it is too hot, it may decide to wait until things cool down. My roses almost stop blooming when we start the daily 100s and some of the blooms are tiny or different. One plant that produces blooms with white streaks almost looses all the white in the blooms; looks odd when it is almost all pink instead. It is supposed to be red with white streaks normally. In September, it restarts bloomage and all is fine again.

I've found dwarf hydrangea tend to struggle in zone 5. It may need a few years to become more established. Otherwise, Tuff Stuff and relatives *should* bloom relatively early on both new and old wood - beginning around early June.

Thanks so much for your helpful comments, luis_pr and springwood_gardens. I just went out and looked at the plant again and it is producing some new leaves and looks generally happy so I'll just wait it out and see how it does over time. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't some secret 'Tiny Tuff Stuff' knowledge out there that I was missing....

Enjoy the shrub, margie5. I have been considering TS and TTS myself for a while. PS - I assumed your shrub was not visited by deer, squirrels or rabbits.

I had Tuff Stuff planted by a landscaping company last year. Mine have not bloomed either last year or this year. I do recall that last year they told me that sometimes they do not bloom the first year or even the second year. I am hopeful that this changes. Good to hear what everyone else says.

All you can do is provide an environment that will help them bloom and then yank them if they cannot. Things you can do: fertilize only once in Spring after your average date of last frost; maintain them mulched with 2-4" year around; watch out for deer; never prune if you can help it; old wood needs to stay until your average date of last frost in case it leafs out late (you can also do a scratch test and very carefully scratch the cambium layer to see if you see green); deadhead spent flower by cutting off the peduncle string that connects the bloom to the stems (never the stems as this is where invisible flower buds develop); maintain the soil as evenly moist as you can; provide morning sun (new growth will need to get tall and old enough to develop invisible flower buds and open them so the more sun, the better); watch out for early and late frosts; consider using winter protection when the plant goes dormant in the Fall and remove it after your average date of last frost (you could remove it earlier but then late frosts could hit the plant, kill leaves and disrupt the proper timing and development of new growth stems that will produce blooms late in the growing season). Plants sold in nurseries are old enough to produce bloomage but if the roots are disturbed or if the plants are planted in the summer, flower buds may be aborted and then you get no blooms in year one but start getting blooms in year two.

We just planted tiny tuff stuff in our garden two weeks ago, and it doesn't look happy. Of course, the weather was frigid, then hot, then frigid, and now hot again. We have a lot of browning leaves, but green at the bottom.

Try to maintain the soil as evenly moist as you can. If temperatures reach or exceed 85°F, gets sun after 10-11am, gets too much wind, etc., the leaves may show signs of wilting but... they may perk up at night if the soil is sufficiently moist. To test for that, insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" and water immediately if the soil feels dry or almost dry. Maintain about 2-4" of organic mulch to minimize soil moisture evaporation and protect the roots from hot/cold temperature extremes.

Hydrangeas will develop new leaves in 2-4 weeks depending on the weather conditions. The brown leaves should -usually- fall on their own but you can cut the petiole string (that is the string that connects the leaf to the stem/branch). Stems that have not leafed out by the end of May or thereabouts can be pruned all the way down (add a few more weeks of wait time if you are close the or in Canada; I am assuming you are in warmer locations). Stems that leaf out partially (bottom only) can be pruned partially; they may or may not produce flowers this year.

Once Tiny Tuff Stuff develops a larger root system, it will handle things better although hydrangeas may sometimes wilt during the worst of summers. I sometimes provide temporary additional shade or block winds somehow to help the plants.

we are just going into our 3rd summer. Spent a lot having a landscaper do the garden. They said they often take a couple of years to bloom. If they don’t bloom this year I’m done with them. Unfortunately the guarantee offered on the landscaping is only 1 year. I will have zero pleasure from maximum dollar. We shall see

I have different varieties of hydrangea including tuff stuff hydrangea and tiny tuff stuff. This is the third year my Tiny tuff stuff are in the ground and thet are the only ones not blooming. I’ve given up on them.

This was my third summer season and I did get a few tufts of blooms. It was nothing like my landscaper had promised. I am leaving them but I will stick to my own planning from now on. Fancy landscaper with big budget disappointed with multiple decisions.

I have had my Tiny Tuff Hydrangea in the ground for over 2 years and it has not grown at all. This year it has developed spots on the leaves. I was told that it is anthracnose.

Anthracnose is one of several possible leaf spot that hydrangea leaves can develop, albeit a little rare. overhead watering typically promotes leaf spots so watering only the soil may help, as well as discarding plant debris in the fall… Ensure that soil ph remains well draining & acidic, the soil is kept always mulched, moist and the plant gets dappled sun or morning sun only.

So 4 seasons ago my Tiny Tuff Hydrangea was planted by a landscaping company. I have 2 of the plants. I had not had but 1 bloom by 3 seasons. This the 4th season is different. 2 of the plants are blooming more and the 3rd has 1 bloom. Oddly the largest one in the most sunny place is the one with 1 bloom. I am not more interested in keeping these to see what more they will produce. They are pretty and also unique when they DO bloom. While I haven't gotten a lot of blooms, it is enough to keep my interest. Fussy but pretty. I think I will keep at it and see if I can get more out of them next year. BTW season 1 was the summer and they were placed in the ground when it was hot. Thank you to everyone who has posted about these. Luis_pr in particular for so much information. You all have kept me informed!

i planted a Tiny Tuff Stuff in my Maine garden, near the ocean, last summer. It was covered with blooms when I planted it and the promise from Proven Winners that this is a "reliable" bloomer had my attention. But now, even with nice looking foliage, I have two buds only and it looks doubtful that there will be more. This plant has been given a lot of TLC and is in nearly perfect location for sun and moisture, and I fertilized once in spring with high phosphorous. Disappointed by this expensive plant so far. I'll give it one more season and then it will be looking for a new home!

I think you and PW may be measuring bloom reliability differently. These rebloomer shrubs produce two flushes of blooms and are newly developed so those are some of the reasons why the varieties are rated by PW as bring more reliable. They are not trying to imply that you will get spring blooms always or that their old wood will not get killed in some winters, though. The first spring 2023 flush requires that the dormant flower buds from last July-August 2022 bloom in spring 2023; it sounds like only a handful of stems survived and are now blooming for you. But ensure you do not prune leafless stems too early: perhaps prune by the end of May in the south; by the end of June or thereabouts further north (it varies by geog location). The December 22nd arctic blast may have killed buds or stems if it affected you like it did here in the south this season. The second flush in late summer/fall 2023 requires that the new, spring 2023 stems get tall enough to quickly develop flower buds and open them immediately by late summer/fall 2023 or before. It may be too early to see if those will fail to bloom.

My Tiny Tuff Stuff started producing large leaves and no blooms last year. This year the same. Why and what can I do?

There is insufficient information, HU-132834583. Please elaborate. In what city/state do you live? In what months did you fertilize? Have you pruned the stems since last July? Do you use high nitrogen fertilizers? The spring flush of blooms may have been eliminated by one of those items or by the December 22nd arctic blast that killed stems as far south as from Georgia thru Texas. But the shrub should develop a second flush of blooms from new 2023 stems by late summer/fall 2023 if the stems get tall enough to bud set and open blooms by then or earlier (it estimated height at maturity is around 1.5 to 2 feet).

By following along here I am becoming more familiar with what I need to do with my Tiny Tuff Stuff. Last year my 3 did produce some blooms. One produced more than the other two. They are spaced in a row so that their sun/shade rations are different. This year all of them did again produce blooms but in a different way. I discovered some of the blooms buried beneath the leaves. I think that maybe I had removed some of the "old wood" and that maybe the "old wood" I left was underneath for the most part. Having read that they need old wood I am planning on not removing any next year. These plants are pretty tricky. Didn't see a single bloom until the 3rd summer. This is my 4th. Thank you Luis for your posts on this site! I am in Chicago, Illinois.

My Tiny Tuff is planted in my garden on a small island off the coast of Maine. Someone who lives not far from me planted three of them in a very shady area, and though the foliage doesn't look as healthy, there are several small rather unimpressive blooms on each plant. I would be happy to have these little blooms compared to one big bloom and a bushy shrub in my garden where I expected an explosion of color! No reblooming either, but I suppose if there are no blooms then re-bloom is not relevant! This plant has been a disappointment so far. I have decided to relocate it to a slightly shadier spot and see what happens. If no better next year, it's out of here. The reason for these shrubs is for their flowers not for looking at the foliage which is not all that special. From this thread, I'm not alone. PW should take this one off the market

I did not prune this plant last fall. I left it alone since the island where it is planted is not accessible until late spring and nobody was tending my garden until late May. When I arrived in May, the plant looked great - lots of lush foliage, so I was looking forward to blooms. Late May, upon arrival, I fertilized once systemically with Miracle Grow super bloom which is a high phosphorus version of MG. About one week after that, I misted the foliage with the same fertilizer. No fertilizer or other attention since then. We have had a very damp and cool summer on the Maine coast with a lot of rain and fog, and for June and much of July, very little sunshine. However, even with those conditions, my other perennials have done well and all the annuals look great. My Anabelle Hydrangeas, which are reliable on the Maine coast, have a lot of blooms. Everything is really good except TTS. Tiny Stuff, but not Tuff and not reliable! Boo!

Third year for 2 TTS in zone 6b. Nice healthy plants but only a few blooms early on old wood. NO blooms on new wood. If no better next year out they go.

I would expect the spring blooms to be eliminated if the 2022 stems got killed and all growth in spring 2023 originated from the crown/base of stems. The second flush of blooms should originate from the new spring 2023 stems but only as soon as they reach a height that triggers bud set and immediate blooms by late summer or fall. How tall are the stems now? They will need lots of morning sun and an appropriate slow release fertilizer that does provides appropriate (not high) amounts of nitrogen, such as Holly-tone (NPK Ratio 4-3-4; apply only twice a year; once at full strength after your city's average date of last frost and again, at half-strength no later than 3 months before your average date of first frost). Fertilizers with higher nitrogen levels or a lot of fertilizer applications may cause the plant to produce nice green dark foliage from the new spring 2023 stem growth at the expense of blooms. Never prune stems except to remove dead stems (wait until the end of June if located in the north).