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Non flowering hydrangeas

VivienVivien Posts: 42
in Problem solving

About ten years ago I planted a mophead Hydrangea which has never flowered despite being smothered in flowers when I bought it. About five years ago i tried another mophead but this never gets more than three flowers. I thought it might be the soil so Last year I bought another and decided to leave it in the pot it came in, it was smothered in flowers at the time ...... but guess what that hasn't flowered either, not a single one. I'm totally baffled as I love them so much. Any ideas?

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 21,875

    Maybe you have pruned them, if you cut of last years growth you won't get flowers this year.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 52,045

    That's what I thought too Lyn. 

    They need plenty of moisture Vivien, which is why they're not easy to keep in containers. What are your soil conditions and weather patterns like?

    Another thought - are you overfeeding? With many plants, you'll get a lot of foliage but less flowers if you do. 

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • VivienVivien Posts: 42

    Thanks for replies. I pruned the first one some years ago but was advised not to so have never pruned any of them since. I hardly ever feed them as was told they are easy to grow but at beginning of season I have fed with fish blood and bone or chicken pellets. Soil is clay.

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,116

    Ideally you should scatter BF&B or chicken pellets every spring all over your flower borders - except wildflower beds - in order to maintain fertility.  Using some slow release rose or clematis fertiliser or liquid tomato feed on high energy plants like roses and clematis will promote flowering.  

    Try some of that on your hydrangeas and make sure they never dry out over summer.  You could also mulch them with some well rotted garden compost in autumn so the worms can work it in over winter and improve your clay soil's ability to sustain your plants.   Clay is naturally fertile but needs organic matter to aerate it and improve its texture for roots to seek out what they need.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • VivienVivien Posts: 42

    Thanks, will try that, I suspect it's the soil as the first two plants have not grown very tall, only about 18" maybe because clay soil not aerated properly. assuming the same applys to a snowball bush which has also never flowered, it's in the same bed.

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