Causes and Solutions for Hydrangea Not Blooming

A hydrangea plant in full bloom has to be one of the most beautiful plants to be grown in a garden. For outdoor beauty, home decor, and gorgeous bridal bouquets, hydrangeas are a plant for many gardeners.

Feeling discouraged because your hydrangea won't bloom? A non-blooming hydrangea can be frustrating. Usually when a hydrangea is not blooming it is a common problem with some simple solutions. Read on for tips on getting your hydrangea blooming.

Why Are My Hydrangeas Not Blooming?

No flowers on hydrangea bushes? It is disappointing that your hydrangea is not blooming. It's possible. If your hydrangea is not blooming, there is usually a fairly easy solution. First, be sure to check your plant hardiness zone to make sure you have the right type of hydrangea for your area.

When your hydrangea isn't blooming, it's usually due to the hydrangea species you plant. Here's the key to understanding your plant: Some varieties of hydrangea grow flowers from the new tree, and some grow flowers from the old tree. If your hydrangea isn't blooming, you'll want to find out what variety you have. Hydrangeas blooming from a newly grown tree have no trouble blooming.

Some of the most common hydrangea plants come from the largeleaf family, or Hydrangea macrophylla. These produce beautiful blue or pink flowers. However, there are many different cultivars created from this family of plants, and many of them tend to go back to the bottom of the ground in the cold of winter.

If the current or "old" tree on this type of hydrangea falls to the ground, your hydrangea will not bloom when it regrows the next spring. Why is that? Why? Since he is busy growing new trees, and with this type of hydrangea, flowers do not form on a newly grown tree. The "old" stems are where next year's flowers will appear.

One solution: Protecting your hydrangeas from frost and freezing temperatures in the winter can help them perform better in the summer.

No Flowers on the Hydrangea Yet?

If you have a hydrangea that won't bloom, you may have pruned it too much the year before. Usually non-flowering hydrangeas are pruned in early summer and late winter. If they're over-pruned, they tend to die out more than usual, giving you a year off before blooming again.

Solution: Prune your hydrangea only in early spring, when you see dead wood. Again, if you see your hydrangea not blooming, make sure you know what species it is and note how far back it died a year ago. Remember, it may need that old wood to bloom.

Finally, if your hydrangeas are not blooming and you've determined that nothing applies here so far, you may want to have your soil tested. If your soil has plenty of nitrogen, your hydrangea may have lush green growth and no flowers. Hydrangeas, like many other flowering plants, need phosphorus to bloom and bloom properly. Adding bone meal is a great way to increase phosphorus in the soil. Also, keep this in mind when choosing a fertilizer for your plants.

Green Flowering Hydrangea – The Cause of Green Hydrangea Flowers

Hydrangeas, the splendor of summer! Once doomed to old-fashioned gardens, these blooming beauties have regained the popularity they deserve. Although there are many varieties within the species, the large macrophylls or mopheads are still the most popular. While the usual summer blooms are blue, pink, or white, we all notice these green hydrangea flowers at some point in the season. Why do hydrangea flowers turn green? Is there a reason for green hydrangea flowers?

Causes

of Green Hydrangea Flowers There is a reason for green hydrangea flowers. Mother Nature herself, with a little help from French gardeners who hybridized the original hydrangeas from China. You see, those colorful flowers are not petals at all. These are the sepals, the part of the flower that protects the flower bud. Why do hydrangeas bloom green? Because that's the natural color of the sepals. As sepals age, pink, blue, or white pigments dominate green, so colorful hydrangea flowers often turn green over time.

Many gardeners believe that color is controlled only by the presence of aluminum in the soil. Aluminum gives you blue flowers. Tie the aluminum and it's pink. TRUE? This is only part of the story. These green hydrangea flowers color with longer sunlight. Light gives the energy to dominate these colors. The color can last for weeks and then you'll see your hydrangea flowers turn green again. The days are getting shorter. Blue, pink and white pigments lose energy and disappear. Once again, green hydrangea flowers reign.

Sometimes you will find a hydrangea with green flowers all season long. If you are new to the garden or if the plant is new to you and blooms later than its plant siblings, you may have a cultivar called 'Limelight'. These relatively new plants have much smaller leaves than the large leaf varieties, but their flowers resemble mophead hydrangeas. It is natural for the flowers to turn green for this beauty whose flowers start and end in white, but were bred to be green in between.

But if your green-flowered hydrangea is one of the other species and the flowers refuse to change, you're the victim of one of Mother Nature's occasional pranks, and gardeners have no explanation for the situation. It could be a combination of unusual weather conditions, but no scientific reason has been found. Take courage. Your green flowering hydrangea should only be exposed to this condition for a season or two before the plant returns to normal.

Why do hydrangeas bloom green? What causes green hydrangea flowers? Interesting questions for the curious, but does it really matter after all? If you notice your hydrangea flowers turning green, sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Mother Nature at its best.