I purchased 2 Endless Summer collection plants listed above. One had a lot of blooms already. The other one had just risen up with a lot of green leaves and had small buds looking like it was just going to start budding yesterday. It was beautiful. This morning, the plant looks likes it wilted over. The small buckets were planted into very large pots per instructions and the soil has been kept wet and fertilized with an acid fertilizer. I'm devastated. I don't know what to do to save this plant. It hasn't even bloomed yet. Can you help me?
Make sure the soil is draining of excess moisture.
Provide shade during the hottest part of the day.
Hydrangea will easily when they are stressed from heat and bright sunlight.
Your plants have not had time to develop a good root system yet.
Provide even moisture and make sure the entire root system is receiving moisture but that the roots never sit in soggy soil.
Avoid fertilizing until the plants recover and are actively growing.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/hydrangea/hydrangea-container-care.htm
Not clear on whether I should cut off brown blooms that have passed or leave on through winter. If left on, cut off in spring? Thank you very much! Monica Wilson
Yes, you should "deadhead" the hydrangea, which means cutting off the faded flower heads, in the early to mid fall. Cut them just under where the dead flowers are so that you don't damage the rest of the branch.
i have endless summer hydrangeas. they are 8 or 9 years old. they grow a rather heavy, i don't know whether to call it a root or a shoot but it is a growth that is growing on top of the ground. these things have a few hair type roots on the bottom and stems on top that bloom. my question is can i cut these off and transplant them to obtain additional plants?
It can be quite common to find on older Hydrangea fibrous roots on the edges of the plants.
You can try division of the roots, though it may not be a successful as propagating from cuttings.
Here are some links with more information.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/hydrangea/green-hydrangea-blooms.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/hydrangea/hydrangea-propagation.htm
can the Endless summer,Lets dance etc hydrangeas bloom in zone 5 without winter protection?
I suggest you mulch the ground (snow is a good mulch) and consider wrapping the plant in burlap. Endless Summer is unusual in that it blooms on both new and old wood. Details here: http://www.endlesssummerblooms.com/design-and-grow/planting-and-care
We have moved to zone 9a in Florida about 3 miles from the gulf. The community we live in now uses reclaimed water. Will this plant survive with these conditions? I loved this plant when we lived in upstate NY and would like to grow here, either in the ground or planter. Thank you
They will thrive as long as they are in shade, dappled shade or morning sun only. Otherwise they will burn quickly
In a southern climate plant where your Hydrangea will receive 2-3 hours of morning sunshine with dappled sun or semi shade in the afternoon.
I was told NOT to prune Endless Summer in fall. Wait until spring for new buds. However we get a frost again sometimes even in May zone 5. I have had to cut back all my bushes each year in spring, which gives the bush a late start to grow and few flowers to enjoy. Should I pull out the plant and use another type of bush? The bushes are very established 12 years old. I mulch the base with pine needles and fertilize in spring. Thank you, Robbie Geboy
Endless Summer shrubs bloom on old and new wood. To protect the buds during winter that formed the previous summer, mulch up to 12 inches in the fall. Do not remove the mulch in spring till all threats of frost have passed. Pruning is really not necessary except to remove spent blooms and dead wood. If you want to replace them, the panicle hydrangeas bloom only on new wood so you don't have to worry about losing buds to late frosts.
http://www.endlesssummerblooms.com/design-and-grow/planting-and-care
hance they will they will bloom. What should I do with them? I do not prune it.
By the end of October or the start of November, Royal Oak tends to have overnight temperatures in the 40s and that, along with decreased temperatures, will reduce the chances that some of these flower buds may open or open fully into flowers.
The problem with ES is that it does not begin to open the buds early. To bloom from new wood, ES has to let the stems get tall (3-5' high but, the height varies based on many factors) and old enough to produce/open flower buds. Cultivars from the Let's Dace Series are more compact (2-3') and so they do not require waiting until the stems are as tall as ES's; those varieties may make better choices in locations like yours.
However, an even better choice would be to use Smooth or Pee Gee Hydrangeas. These will bloom earlier and not have this blooming issue. Of course, these types of hydrangeas do not produce the same types of blooms or the same colors as ES mopheads/lacecaps.
Going forward with keeping ES, I would consider fertilizing it with a fertilizer brand that is slightly higher in nitrogen and more phosphorus to see if this may trigger a faster/earlier stem development/growth that gets tall sooner. Or have an application of the current fertilizer in mid to late spring and another two months later but before the last week of July (that week is your average date of first frost minus three months). Then see if that helps your ES in any way. I wish I could still contact this acquaintance; I was now wondering what fertilizer program he was exactly using (what fert, how much and when he applied it in Ohio). His macrophyllas would normally bloom late summer to early fall (or about now). Try not to go overboard with higher nitrogen levels as too much nitrogen can stop blooming. A few percentages 1-3 may be ok; increase phosphorus a tad more. Michigan is located further north so this may not work for you but you can try if you wish.
You can leave the blooms that are open and the ones that are in the process of opening "as is". Enjoy whatever blooms you do get. All of mine are officially brown so I only see new ones from friends in the United Kingdom where some varieties of macrophyllas are still blooming. If your plant aborts the blooms/buds due to reduced sunlight or cold temperatures, these blooms/buds will prematurely turn brown. You can always deadhead them at any point (cut the peduncle string that connects the bloom to the stem).
If these stems typically dry out during winter and die for you, you can prune them all the way down by the end of May or thereabouts (live/green stems should leaf out by then). When the stems do not come back every year, some people cut them down in mid/late fall or in winter too but, since pruning now can force new growth that can get zapped by early frosts, I prefer to prune in the spring instead.