Can someone help me with a hydrangea question? I live in upstate SC (zone 8). I have a huge hydrangea that didn’t do a single thing over the spring/summer except grow beautiful leaves (we cut it back to the ground last year in the fall after it bloomed in summer). Now, in the past 2 days, all of its buds have come out and it is flowering. Is this normal? We’ve only lived here for 18 months. All the neighborhood hydrangeas had beautiful flower in the summer. These are typical “Endless Summer” type hydrangeas. Not sure where to go from here.
You just pruned at the wrong time, so your hydrangea is a little off track right now.
“The great thing about Endless Summer® hydrangeas is that you don’t need to prune them back to the base like other hydrangeas. Since they bloom on previous years’ growth AND the new season’s growth, you can leave them all winter long to achieve double the blooms next spring. Do NOT prune the hydrangea back in fall.”
They really are care-free and bloom on ‘old’ and ‘new’ wood.
So, my advice is to leave it be and the ONLY pruning you should ever need to do from here on out, especially in your LOVELY Zone 8, is to take out any damaged branches or dead, dry wood that will appear from time to time.
I wouldn’t fertilize it right now, but make sure it has enough water (1” a week) through the winter months and when we get into May, I’d give it a shot of a fertilizer designed for Hydrangea, one that also has some acidity to it. Or, if you’re a coffee drinker, save your coffee grounds and sprinkle them around beneath the shrub. They like the acidity and it will increase their blue color, too!
I’m so jealous! I left at least a dozen hydrangea behind at my ‘old’ farm (1906) and haven’t added any to our ‘new’ (1900) farm yet - I did roses this year, so Hydrangea are high on the list for next season. :)