My hydrangea no longer flower

Since the harsh winter two or three winters ago, my hydrangea seems to have stopped flowering. Plenty of green leaves at the moment, but not seeing any flower buds or flowers again this year. Is there anything I can do to encourage flowers? Is it too late for this year? I'm not sure which types I have- three are full green leaves with blue or pink puff ball of flowers when they bloom, and the other two are variegated leaves, and it's been so long I can't remember what type of flower it has. I have two other white (coneflower?) type of hydrangea elsewhere on my property that are doing well... I loved that they would bloom and last all summer, now it's just green like grass...


Many hydrangeas only bloom on old wood, which has been severely damanged on my Blue Nikkos the last  two winters.  I am too lazy to do this myself, but you may want to consider piling leaves around them next winter and covering with a bag to protect them until spring.


I think it is WAY too early for Hydrangea---they don't blossom until well into June (mine are usually in their glory by 4th of July) Be patient. The winter retarded everything. As long as the foliage is healthy, don't give up hope!


Agreed ..it is much too early for hydrangea blooms ..the ones in nurseries have been forced 

Give yours time ..they will not disappoint !


Mine (established plants with a history of wonderful blooms) did not flower at all last summer. This year, several of them are showing some buds that will be flowers, but much sparser than before 2 years ago. Two of the bushes are still suffering and I don't expect to see any flowers on them at all this year. They are not in particularly exposed locations, but whatever got to them two years ago certainly affected their flower production.


I'm in the same boat @cody... I fear that nothing will happen again this year. I've been here about 4 years, and first two years here, we had flowers at least starting to bloom by this time... Last year and now again, nothing even starting to happen. Now sure if these plants are "done", or if there is something I can do to encourage them to bloom again... I've read coffee grounds help, but tried that last year, didn't work. Will do some more digging online or hit the library...


I have only one hydrangea, which didn't flower last year.  This past winter we wrapped it up in a couple of old fitted sheets, and we have flower buds now.


Good idea to remember for next year.  Mine has buds on the tips of the old growth stalks but they look dead to me.  I will wait and see what happens later in the season before removing them.  Further down the plant, old growth is producing plenty of leaves so not as bad a condition as last year when all the old growth had to be removed.


Mine are looking better this year. Two are very leafy and definitely have buds now, two others are small and leafy but no buds. Last year just had leaves so this is an improvement.

Now the butterfly bush looks awful. It was almost entirely dead wood which I cut down about a month ago. New shoots are coming up from the ground, but it used to be almost a tree. All that wood is totally dead.

I also lost a few lavender plants that were established, over 10 years. I may have cut them back too aggressively, but they seemed very dead. Oh, and an azelea that was small, but established, didn't even get any leaves this year. It must be dead, too.

On the bright side, I worked in the yard until twilight over the weekend and no mosquitoes!


This winter was incredibly brutal for the plants. There are a couple of butterfly bushes at our new house that were about eight feet tall last year, going by the dried stalks that are still there, but the only growth now is coming from the ground. And many of the shrubs have amazing amounts of dead branches at a level that corresponds exactly with where the snow was in drifts. I'm going to get out there today or tomorrow with the clippers and hedge trimmers and see if I can make them look a little better while I wait for signs of life to return.


http://www.hgtvgardens.com/hydrangeas/nursery-school-to-prune-or-not-to-prune-your-hydrangeas


Our hydrangeas had no blooms last year, but they are looking great now. I didn't prune them at all at the end of last year. This spring I gave them plenty of Holly-Tone and waited until the leaves sprouted to prune the dead branches. Now they have tons of buds that are getting ready to bloom! I am so happy because these are my favorite flowers, ever.


My garden is going gangbusters this spring as opposed to last year. I've got a ton of peony flowers (only 2 last year), my hydrangeas are already big and have a ton of buds on them (last year, a couple of little flowers and not as many leaves either as I previously got), and I already have a lily! I think it's giving me its last farewell shout-out (making me sad).


thanks for the link lanky. Very helpful! I think I actually did prune at the right time, so fingers crossed something happens this year- tho I do remember having flowers starting to show by now.... If nothing again this year, I will try to protect it over the winter this time...

Also, as Nizonigrrrl mentioned, so far so good with the M word! Maybe the weather killed them off ( or at least lowered their numbers).


We have 6-8 hydrangea bushes, last year we didn't have any blooms. I did feed them miracle grow 2x this spring season, and kept them watered and they are looking like they may bloom this year. oh oh I don't think I kept them watered last year. Good luck!



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