can anyone tell me what this is please??

9 years ago

Hello all,
Ive been trying to work on my yard this spring/summer and recently a 86yr old neighbor of mine asked me to plant a few things in their yard!! Which is great because i am running out of room in mine. Lol. He has this plant and he said he has lived there for 5 years now and never seen a flower on it, so hes not sure if its a weed and wanted me to dig it up. To me (which i am new to all this) it appears to be some sort of hydrangea maybe?? In the early spring it did have some dried up looking sticks that seemed to be hollow coming out of it, and i cut those out and trimmed it up a bit in hopes something would come out of it. When i moved next door it had maple startings and posion ivy and all kinds of fun stuff growing in it and it looked dried up and almost dead looking. BUT after this spring when i cleaned it up and trimmed it for him, it is growing nicely now and looks healthy. I know if anyone would be able to help us out and figure out what it is, it would be the amazing people on this forum!!!
Thanks guys and gals, you have taught me so much on here already and there is so much left to learn!! :)

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Comments (7)

jaynine
9 years ago
Hydrangea?
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
In the early spring it did have some dried up looking sticks that seemed to be hollow coming out of it,

==>> normal after a MI winter ... often dies back to snow cover... and i always let it bud out.. and trim back to the second lowest good bud ..

very heavy water user ... and not a full sun plant...

i am sure you can get much more cultural advice in the perennial forum ...

and get this.. they norm flower color is pink [though i dont know this cultivar]... but if you throw some coffee grounds on one side.. for a week or two ... the plant might bloom pink on one side.. and blue on the other.. which is to say.. you can change flower color by adjusting pH ...

ken

ps: its a variegated H ...
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Iris GW
9 years ago
Yes, a variegated hydrangea macrophylla, I believe.
jameya
Original Author
9 years ago
Oh wow!! A BIG THANK YOU to all of you!! I am so glad i did not dig it up now!! It is planted facing east up against the side of his house. There also seems to be white rock gravel over it that someone has put down through out the years that now is scattered. I am wondering now if i should try to get some of that up, or can i add a bit of mulch around it?? It sure has not been watered since i have been here (and he isnt able) so when i go out to water my plants, i will be sure to give it water since i will be planting a few things over there for him too.
So is it normal that it hasnt bloomed for him in 5 years hes lived there?? Or could that be because of lack of water??
I will try the coffee thing as well. I recently planted two in my yard and it will be interesting to try for sure!! I have read that tea works for fertilizer somewhat too. I have mammoth ears in large pots and they were looking kind of funny so i had some unsweet tea that was going bad, and i dulited it with more water and poured it into the elephant ears and they are doing great now and even put out tons of new shoots. I have no clue as to what i am doing and i am learning much, i just cant wait to tell him today it is not a weed. I love the whiteish looking soild outline on the leaves of it. I put two different types of them in my yard and they dont have those pretty leaves like that. So i might ask him for a small start of it this fall to have one in my yard as well, and i figure if i do that it would be good to try and get some of those rocks out and maybe do the mulch if that would be better then the rocks. Any suggestions??
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
9 years ago
Here's a good page on why the hydrangea has not bloomed. Perhaps it will help. Lots of other good info too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Why doesn't it bloom?
jameya
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you hoovb!!! I am wondering if someone kept cutting it back for him before i moved in thinking it was weeds. There is a tree around here that puts off millions of helicopters that then sprout in places and they grow like crazy. Im wondering if this is one of the things that is going on. When i trimmed it up and cleaned around it. AND like that site says, it most likley blooms on new growth so by me cleaning it up and whatever was going on before i helped him, thats why it hasnt bloomed. I know it more then likely gets morning sun and then in the afternoon. Its somewhat shaded, but not much since the nearest tree is a few houses down about 100 foot or so. Ill have to ask him some questions to see if maybe this is some of the issues and read some of the link to him and see. I will also just leave it alone then until next summer and just see what happens to it then. Maybe without cutting it, and watering it more, and the coffee and maybe some fertilizer it could turn into something even more pretty :)
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
9 years ago
Sounds like a good plan, as long as you don't over-do it, love it to death. No fertilizer can make a plant bloom unless it's the right time of year for blooms to happen.