| I have a blue hydrangea, planted 18 months ago. It did not bloom last year, although it had flowers when I bought and planted it. It grew and looked healthy, but no blue flowers. What can I do to ensure it blooms this year? |
| Hydrangeas produce blooms on shoots that grow from last year's wood. So, pruning is the key to blooming. If you did not prune after bloom the first year, the plant probably did not develop new flowering wood. (Pruning encourages the growth of new wood.) If you did prune, you may have pruned the shrub back too hard, eliminating mature wood, so that new flowering shoots did not develop. There's no guarantee your plant will bloom this year, but you can cut the stems back by about one-third at the end of the summer, and you'll encourage new flowering wood to develop next spring.Hope this clarifies things for you! |
