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The hydrangea blooms well into September. Here you can find out what to do if the hydrangea does not bloom.
Hydrangeas (Hydrangea) bloom in pretty pastel tones, in white, deep blue, red, strong pink, green and violet. With its lush colors, the ornamental shrub will be a real eye-catcher in your garden. In this article you will find out how your hydrangeas produce particularly beautiful flowers and what you can do if they do not bloom.
Hydrangea Bloom
When and for how long the deciduous ornamental shrub transforms your garden into a colorful sea of flowers depends primarily on the variety. But also care and fertilization measures as well as the location have an effect on the time of flowering.
Note: What is popularly known as a hydrangea flower is actually botanically just a brightly colored sepal, also known as a sepalum. The actual flowers are in the middle and develop tiny white leaves.
When is the flowering time of the hydrangea?
With the right choice of variety, you can enjoy the colorful inflorescences of the hydrangea for many months. As early as May, early varieties begin to open their flower buds, which were established the previous year. These include, for example, the climbing hydrangea 'Semiola' or the velvet hydrangea 'Hot Chocolate'. However, the main flowering time falls in summer. How long you can enjoy your flowering shrub depends on the variety, care and site conditions. Most varieties bloom until September, some even make it into October, such as the garden hydrangea 'Schöne Bautznerin' or the panicle hydrangea 'Tardiva'.
Why isn't my hydrangea blooming?
Although the hydrangea is a fairly robust plant, it can happen that the garden does not bloom. There can be various reasons for this; Usually the problem lies in the care measures or the location and can be remedied with a few simple steps. You can read everything about hydrangea care in our special article.
WrongLocation of Hydrangea
If the hydrangea does not bloom in the first year, it is worth checking the location. The shrub likes nutrient-rich, sunny to semi-shady locations with a slightly acidic pH. The blue flowers in particular need a low pH value, since the nutrient aluminum is partly responsible for their coloration, which the plant can only absorb at a pH value below 4.5. Hydrangeas that form flowers in red and white tones can also cope with pH values of 5.5 to 6.5. To get the right value, you can use a special hydrangea fertilizer that leads the soil into acidic areas.
Tip: Some soils naturally have an acidic pH value and are therefore the perfect location for the hydrangea even without treatment. You can find out whether this is the case in your garden with the help of a soil sample or a pH test.
Lack of nutrients in the hydrangea
If your hydrangea doesn't want to start flowering properly, a lack of nutrients can also be a reason. In order to form its colorful flowers, the hydrangea needs sufficient nitrogen, potassium and trace elements such as iron, sulfur or magnesium. For fertilization, it is advisable to use mainly organic products specially tailored to hydrangeas. Our Plantura organic hydrangea fertilizer is ideally adapted to the needs of the flowering shrub and provides it with a good deal of potassium as well as additional magnesium and iron. Due to its long-term effect over three months, the plants are perfectly supplied with all important nutrients throughout the season. However, be careful not to fertilize your plants with nitrogen too late. Late nitrogen fertilization reduces the frost hardiness of the plants, which can lead to frost damage to the flowering wood and thus to no or only poor flowers.
Wrong pruning of the hydrangea
A care measure that quickly leads to the failure of the flower is wrong pruning. The new flower emerges from last year's wood and since most hydrangeas develop their shoots with terminal flower buds in autumn, they must be pruned back with particular care. If the shoot from last year is cut off or the terminal bud is broken off, only leaf shoots will grow in the coming year. It is therefore advisable to cut back the shrub in spring. It is also possible to cut directly after floweringto do. Then you should make sure to only remove old inflorescences and dried up wood. Here are more tips for pruning hydrangeas.
Frost Damage to Hydrangeas
Although the hydrangea is conditionally hardy, it is important to protect it from frost due to the flower buds that have already formed. In winter, the buds are quite well protected from the cold by the bracts. In spring, however, when the bracts begin to open and the plant develops its new flowers, late frosts can freeze into the flowers. That's why it's important to keep an eye on the thermometer at this time and to temporarily cover the hydrangea with fleece when the temperature is around freezing. If you have your plant in a bucket, you can also store it in a frost-free room. If the buds have frozen, you won't be able to save the flowering this season, but with the right care during the cold season, you will be rewarded with beautiful flowers again next year.
The hydrangea is too wet or too dry
Adequate water supply is good and important. However, the substrate should not be too moist, especially between June and August, because then the plant can thrive instead of flowering. This means that the plant forms soil-borne shoots, which means that not enough energy can flow into the flower formation and the flower either fails to appear or is very small. But a lack of water supply naturally also inhibits flowering; so the correct measure is in the middle.
What to do if the hydrangea doesn't bloom?
- Check location: Slightly acidic pH value, sunny to partially shaded, moist and nutrient-rich location is preferred
- Protect against late frosts with fleece in spring
- Watch out for the new flower buds when cutting back
- Ensure adequate nutrient supply with nitrogen, potassium and trace elements, e.g. with our Plantura organic hydrangea fertiliser
- Avoid insufficient or excessive water supply