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Hydrangea blossoms are at their best when they are well watered and well fed. Mulch also provides an evaporation barrier. Keeping your soil moist in the heat of the summer, which is also the flowering season for hydrangeas, will help to maintain the healthiest version of your plant.
To stimulate hydrangeas to bloom, it is important to provide the plants with plenty of sunlight and water. Make sure that the soil is well-draining and fertilize regularly in spring and summer.
The best time to deadhead is when the first set of blooms on your hydrangeas begin to turn brown and dry. Cut the stem below the flower head and just above the first set of leaves.
Endless Summer hydrangeas require minimal pruning. Never prune them in the fall. If at all, spring is the time to prune without the risk of removing flower buds. Wait until green leafy growth appears on the stems.
Fall/Winter Care
Cover the plant with a four-inch layer of organic mulch (wood mulch, leaves, etc.). There is no need to cover all stems to the tip or to cut them back. Covering should be done when fully dormant (around November 30th), or at the same time you would cover perennials in your garden.
Provide a layer of organic mulch to help retain moisture, add nutrients to the soil, and protect the plant in the cold winter months. Plant is a full sun to partial shade location, though this plant does best in partial shade. Water frequently, at least once per week. But ensure the soil does not stay wet.
Without going through the deadheading process, hydrangeas will not produce as many flowers and the few produced may not grow as big to their full potential.
Yes, you can use many types of all-purpose balanced Miracle-Gro on Endless Summer hydrangeas.
Pruning many plants will help rejuvenate them so they can produce healthy new foliage and beautiful flowers. Endless Summer Hydrangeas is a plant that benefits from this practice. Early spring is the perfect time to prune them to help prepare them for the season.
The Endless Summer series blooms on both new and old wood, making the plants much more versatile in the landscape. However, if the plants are not properly fertilized in the spring, few if any buds will be produced on the current season's growth.
Your Endless Summer Hydrangea needs consistent moisture throughout its growing season to stay healthy and produce beautiful blooms. Watering deeply once a week should be enough to keep it hydrated, but if temperatures are high or there's been little rain, you may need to water more frequently than that.
There are a few main reasons that you may not see blooms on your hydrangea bushes: sun exposure, over-watering and over-fertilizing. Endless Summer® hydrangeas prefer morning sun and afternoon dappled shade. If they are planted in full sun, it may be too hot and intense for the blooms to produce.
Removing spent flowers will ensure your hydrangeas produce healthier, more bountiful blooms later on. Caroline is a freelance writer for MarthaStewart.com.
Since hydrangea blossoms are so big, deadheading a hydrangea makes a real difference in diverting energy to more important parts of the plant's growth. You should carry out this practice all through the blooming season to encourage new blossoms and keep your plant looking fresh.
Hydrangeas that bloom on old wood do not need pruning and are better off for it. If you leave them alone, they'll bloom more profusely the next season. But go ahead and gently thin or deadhead. Just remember new growth may come, but that new growth will be without blooms next season.
Endless Summer Hydrangeas actually enjoy partial shade to full sun and are able to bloom on both old and new growth from spring through summer or early summer to fall, depending on the climate you live in.
Since Endless Summer® Hydrangeas bloom on last year's growth (“old wood”) as well as the current season's growth (“new wood”), you will get the most flowers by protecting the flower buds on the old wood. To do this, do NOT prune or cut back your shrubs after August 1st.