They belong in the discounted section but yes, they should come back. Most likely, they were not watered properly or were placed where they got too much sun or too much wind. May tale until they leaf out in 2018 to "fix" the leaves as we are starting to get near the end of the growing season and some shrubs may not generate new leaves now.

Some plant nurseries cut off the blooms so I am not sure if that happened here. Most of my oakleaf blooms are brown now so maybe they decided to deadhead them and hope they sell. Another possibility, if they were not cared for properly, maybe the plant aborted the flower buds. For example, if the plant did not get enough water, the plant may have aborted the buds and thus you would see no blooms.

I once saw some oakleafs being sold that had developed rust. And they wanted full price for them! Nope, not from me.

what is rust ? I should have taken a picture

IME. most nursery sized oakleafs are seldom in bloom. These tend to take longer/need greater maturity before producing flowers than do other species. The exception might be those in pretty large containers.....I wouldn't expect to see flowers on anything smaller than a 5G plant. And some - like Little Honey - are just shy bloomers.

Rust is a fungal disease but I have NEVER seen it on a hydrangea. And I live in the fungal capitol of the universe!! If a plant is inclined to any fungal disease, it's pretty much a guarantee that it will show up in local gardens :-))

really, so if they are 2-3 gallon pots I shouldn't expect any blooms next year either ? Or do you mean that in a nursery environment i shouldn't expect blooms that small

Just in the nursery.......I would expect blooms next season if they get planted soon. As long as what you find are not too tiny to begin with :-))

ohh ok. good news!

Rust resembles cercospora leaf spot but it has orangey little spots. Until that visit to the nursery with the infestation, I had never seen them in hydrangeas (or locally) but I had seen them in roses elsewhere. Rare here in this part of Texas.

I have seen oakleafs in bloom and not in bloom at local nurseries. I typically find oakleafs in two places, but one of them has them seldom so it is mostly at the one with the rust infestation (so I always look at their plants more carefully than usual). Ha-Ha! :o) I think the shrubs got the infestation elsewhere since it is rare here. The place with the infestation had none in bloom. The other place had them in bloom; although I did not notice, I would guess they may have been from different wholesalers since they were different varieties.

I would love to see Proven Winners oakleafs locally... They carry the Gatsby Collection and it would be great if the plants had blooms to really see them in person. I hate buying shrubbery that is not in bloom, especially hydrangeas. Think: I may be buying plants with the wrong labels! I already got one mystery hydrangea that way and with limited shade space, I would hate to add more mystery shrubs.

Exactly, I am putting only two together on a fence line. That would be odd having two different varieties! I msy keep calling around, hopefully someone has them in goof condition.

I have oakleafs that have been in the ground between 10 and 1 years. In my experience even one that starts in a 5 gallon pot takes a few years to bulk up and put on enough flowers to make a modest show. Ruby Slippers has been planted a year and has 4 flowers; another variety has none but the rabbits got the new spring growth so who knows what it might have done?

Hydrangeas are not very slow, but don't provide instant gratification.

Well, my own oakleafs are well past flowering here in August, so lack of blooms on nursery plants wouldn't scare me.

I know. Same here! Mostly brown blooms now. ;0(

I have three OL Hydrangeas planted three years ago -- this is the first year they bloomed and I only got maybe 3-4 blooms per plant. I expect it to get better each year now, as they mature.