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Hydrangea's not flowered this year

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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Only if you feel you've cut back too far  :)
    Cutting back just might have coincided with some frosts - enough to set it back. I wouldn't worry too much.
    It should be fine next year, unless the plants are old and in need of rejuvenation anyway.   :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited August 2021
    Lucky you,  We had bad hydrangea killing frost this spring. Surrey.  

    For the usual mop heads, prune immediately after flowering.  Spring pruning can if too vigorous and can remove the developing flowers.

    My Hydrangea petiolaris (climber) was also badly frosted, but still gave a reasonable display.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    🤔 While the advice immediately above may work for the poster in his particular garden with his particular varieties, the regime I have always found to work for mopheads hydrangeas is the advice given by the RHS … an extract below

    “…
    • Dead blooms on mophead hydrangeas can, in mild areas, be removed just after flowering, but it is best to leave them on the plant over winter to provide some frost protection for the tender growth buds below. Remove the dead flowerheads in early spring, cutting back the stem to the first strong, healthy pair of buds down from the faded bloom…”

    This annual deadheading in the spring is separate to and very distinct from more radical pruning which is carried out to rejuvenate and older shrub. 

    The fact that @bede reports having lost blooms to frost this year seems to evidence that his situation is not reliably mild enough for his pruning regime. 



    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited August 2021
    Dove.  Thanks, I am a lapsed RHS member (No: <5000) and have folllowed all the advice and read specialist books.
      
    Leaving the dead heads on the bush is only a protection for a very light ground frost.  No protection from a night below zero.

    Too true, my situation is very dificult for hydrangeas.  Surrey, not far from Wisley, late spring frosts.  Perhaps too much shade so that shoots are not fully ripened.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    The specialist growers also offer the same advice @Dovefromabove, as do most people who grow them, regardless of location. I certainly wouldn't prune after flowering here - too near frost season as that starts in October, sometimes earlier.  :)
    It's usually just paniculatas that are hard pruned in spring because of their flowering habit on new wood. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Many of us are RHS members … whether lapsed or not. Some are professional trained horticulturalists, some are highly experienced ‘amateurs’ and some are less experienced. I think few are so arrogant as to think we have nothing more to learn. 

    The skill of the gardener is to recognise and understand what is happening and adapting appropriately as circumstances in our gardens change. 







    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Indeed @Dovefromabove - and many are finding things changing significantly due to climate. This year in particular. Been very topsy turvy.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited August 2021
    If you need to prune hard, prune now, August.  But try to remove only the oldest shoots, leave the best untouched, and don't go too far back on the others.
    Removing dead heads is for appearance only.

    Anyone can read the books or follow www.RHS advice.  I can offer my own experience that you can follow, or not.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    We all offer our own experience @Bede
    😶
     … also I understand that the advice published by the RHS is based on empirical evidence gained by plantsmen and growers over many years, coupled with verified and peer reviewed scientific research. Not to be sneezed at. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 537
    edited August 2021
    Here in the Midlands my traditional pink hydrangea is going berserk. Pink flowers everywhere.

    I did prune it half-hard I think this spring as it was soaking me everytime I squeezed past to the water butt after rain, and we had a frosty April. No idea what I got right.

    It's probably just me-proof.

    Unfortunately it is where the extension is going in 2-3 years.
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
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