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bernbecca

bobo's blooming/ not blooming

7 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago



Planted 5 baby bobo's last fall. Two are blooming, wondering why the other 3 are not. After looking at some of the post below I guess I should be glad any are. They are in similar locations and watered and fed the same. In this pic you can see the one in the middle is not blooming.

It's a new year and all 5 Bobo's are covered in buds! Excited to see them in all their glory. For those that were worried about the plastic, it's long gone. I will add how the bed looks now and update again when they bloom.

Aug 13 update, the bo-bo's bloomed beautifully but the rain has flattened the ones on the the other side of the sidewalk, hope they will be stronger next year.



these are now flat

Comments (10)

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    It is quite young and not well established yet (it takes 1-3 years for hydrangeas to become well established). Since the shrubs do not synchronize their blooming times with each other, give them a pass this year and see if they still blooms but later on this year.

    PS - I hope you are not using plastic around them as that cooks (heats up) the roots in the summer and may cause problems. At least keep it away from the hydrangeas, whose tiny, water absorbing roots are near the top 4".I do not recommend rocks as mulch for the same reason but 2-4" of hardwood mulch, cypress mulch, pine needles, etc are all ok.

  • 7 years ago

    I am wondering what is the purpose of putting those white bags at front of your bobos?

  • 7 years ago

    Luis yes I do have plastic to keep the weeds out while still trying to figure out what else I want to do here, however it is cut far out from the bobo's.


  • 7 years ago

    windberry the plastic bags are compost that I intend on using at some point but for now they keep the compost/mulch that is around the bobo's from washing downhill

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    As Luis said, get rid of the plastic. It interferes with movement of air, nutrients, and water into the soil, and plants’ roots aren’t restricted to the width of the leaf canopy, but the plastic might cause them to limit themselves. As he mentioned it will also add heat stress to the plants’ roots, and it won’t prevent weeds which will grow on top of the plastic as soil washes or blows onto it and organic debris is blown in or drops . Additionally, plastic will break down due to the UV component in sunlight, and then you will have a mess of plastic scraps flapping along with the weeds. His advice to add a good layer of shredded bark mulch is wise. You will still get a few weeds, but with an organic mulch they won’t be difficult to remove as long as you don’t leave them for long periods of time to get large and spread seeds. Your plants (and in the long run you) will be far happier if you remove the plastic and replace with good layer of organic material for mulch. Having a shredded, coarse textured mulch will also help keep the mulch in place, especially if it is 3”-4” deep.

    Some of the life lessons I have gotten from gardening include that many plants (among other things) take time to show their true potential, and that in many situations they aren’t any really easy shortcuts though there may be ways to make your life easier. You would be wiser to either just plan to weed some or spread Preen on the bed every spring at the recommended time. Adding a buried edging that goes several inches down will help keep grass out of the bed, or alternatively, cut a deep V along the edge and refresh it every year.

  • 7 years ago

    Thanks for commenting. I have no intention of leaving the plastic down indefinitely. It's already been longer than I hoped(Oct 18) but still trying to decide what I want to do on this side of the sidewalk. I planted the other side last fall and did put some plastic near the house/ bobo's. Used only compost as mulch for the majority which has been a chore to keep weeded but doable. I was planning to use real mulch this fall but now I want to move stuff around so they will have to wait until next Spring for real mulch. I will use compost again this fall. My flowers seem happy enough.

    This shows where there is no plastic, impossible to keep it weeded. I promise as soon as I get the bed constructed and more plants I will remove the plastic. For now I will cut more away from the bobo's

    this is how the other side of the sidewalk was planted last Oct(late) the mums were clearance and I didn't expect them to survive, boy did they. Below are the BoBo's in this bed.

    this is the size of the baby BoBo's when planted last Oct

    this is how it looks today, the bobo's seem to be growing and look healthy. We'll see if they bloom next year. The mums are about to bloom

    another shot with bobo's in the background

  • 7 years ago


    don't know why the weed pic didn't post, trying again

  • 7 years ago

    A stirrup hoe is a great way to keep weeds down where there isn’t mulch though you will want to hand weed near the plants. I keep my veggie garden in good shape with one of these.

    https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-48-in-Wood-Handle-Action-Hoe/1000752686

    bernbecca thanked NHBabs z4b-5a NH
  • 7 years ago

    stirrup hoe looks like a tool I just have to have, Thanks