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Thank you everyone! I am planning to do a soil assessment. I believe UWM can do this for me. This hydrangea has never had any special attention from me, due to its location on the north side of the house. It’s difficult to water. It only gets some late afternoon sun due to the placement of the fence. This is the same bush I asked about moving last year. What looks like a draining downspout is an elbow routed farther away. See below.
debra
You know, I remember thinking that too when I researched it. I also hope it stays compact and does not instead very slowly exceed its dimensions long term like sone supposedly “small” magnolias.
Wee White is a more compact (3 feet or less) Smooth Hydrangea (Annabelle, etc etc.) but be aware that all the types of hydrangeas have blooms that stay their initial color for 1-2 months and then the bloom color changes as the bloom gets older.
The Merritts do not take very cold winters and full summer sun well so aim for morning sun instead instead. If you want to ensure spring blooms, winter protect reliably or grow them in pots that you keep in the garage/etc when it is freezing.
I think the reason the tag is useless is these were produced to be sold as a seasonal color item (Ready Refill) which means they may or may not be suitable to your area as a perennial garden plant.
Thanks, Luis! I feel much better knowing all of this. I was so panicked yesterday. I tried scooping some sugar with my hands last night and it turns out that is only 1/8 cup 😂 Phew!
I usually wait to first fertilize until my average date of last frost (mine falls in March; yours will vary) at full strength. Then I fertilize again at half strength 3 months before my average date of first frost. You can fertilize similarly too.
Organic compost, composted manure and cottonseed meal work fine. A general purpose, slow release fertilizer with a NPK Ratio of 10-10-10 is fine too. If your soil has no nutrient deficiencies, you could even skip fertilizing in some years with no symptoms as hydrangeas are not heavy feeders.
I recommend calling or emailing the university with an agriculture program nearest you for specific advice about when to fertilize. I am in zone 6b also. I did this because the weather has been so hinky. It was recommended to me to wait a couple more weeks to fertilize my hydrangeas with Holly-tone.
It's your choice. This is a very compact variety of panicle hydrangea with strong stems produced at an early age. If they never exceed the size you prefer, you may never have to prune them. But as they flower on the current season's growth, you might want to take them back a bit. This will result in a denser shrub with more flowering points. But this is something that is done in late winter or very early spring. Leaving it as late as the beginning of May could put this season's flowers at risk - or at least the quantity.
Not really unless there is an aesthetic reason to do so. During the first few years, there is usually no reason but there are sometimes exceptions. Pruning is not required although you can prune leafless stems if they still remain leafless by the end of May in the south/June in the north. If you do prune, consider cutting no more than about 1/3 to minimize flopping although flopping mostly applies to taller specimens with much larger blooms than Bobo. Feel free to deadhead any hydrangea bloom at any time that you wish by pruning above the first pair of leaves or if the stem is leafless, cut the string that attaches each bloom to the stem.