luis_pr said: Hard to say as they are so recently planted. Paniculatas bloom best in full sun. Perhaps they need more sun or their recent transplant and root disturbance is going to make late this first summer. Little Lime is advertised as a mid-season bloomer but there is no mention about the Punch cultivar. Give it time to see how it performs performs in late summer/fall and-or consider a more sunny location. Personally, I would not be concerned on year one too much as I prefer that they develop a larger root system instead. And Punch is a brand new introduction so monitor what it does between now and the end of the growing season. Like one does with other plants like roses in year one.
Be mindful of your average date of first frost (around 3rd-4th weeks of October) if you are tempted of adding still more slow release fertilizers as too much nitrogen can cause the shrubs to develop nice foliage at the expense of blooms. It is also quite hot now to be fertilizing and stressing the plants. The last application of a slow release fertilizer in Chicago should be done three months prior to your average date of first frost (the average is late October)... or about now but, you can also use quick release fertilizers between now and then instead, just choose low nitrogen and high phosphorus formulations. Or like I said earlier, just monitor them without fertilizing or pruning. Maintain the soil evenly moist, mulch and provide some sun... the more sun, the better.
Make sure that water from the two downspouts is not collecting at the two ends of the Little Lime Punch hedge. For some reason, the one in the middle of the hedge (and furthest away from the downspouts) is the only one currently blooming.
Frillylily said: these hydrangeas need full sun, they are not like the macrophyla types that like dappled shade. I suspect they will not bloom much for you in this location, but they may of course look like a nice shrub.
Frillylily said: 6 hours IS full sun, so that should not be your issue. When you said morning only I was thinking only a couple of hours. You can look them up on Proven Winners website it says how to care for them, yes they are full sun. I have limelights (same kind different name) in full on sun ALL day and they about 7 feet tall this year and loaded with blooms. You can look it up on a search if you want to know more.
Did you prune them at any time? And were they pruned back when you bought them? I order things from proven winners mail order, and they often cut off the plants to pack them, depending on when you prune them, they may have lost this years blooms.
Other than that, they look fine, and patience is all that is missing, if they don't bloom next year, then you have a problem.
Frillylily said: they just need more time. Usually in zone 4 a plant may need full sun, but vs say zone 7 or 8 a plant may only need more of a partial sun due to the difference in zone. It sounds like you pruned them properly, they should bloom next year.
