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Hydrangeas not doing well this year

12 years ago

I have 7 Limelight hydrangea bushes planted next to the house on the east side. They were planted about 4 years ago. Normally most of them are full of leaves and lots of blooms. This year several of them are not leafing out well. In fact, a couple of them have very few leaves. It's too early in my zone 3 for blooms. I pruned them for the first time in early spring. I only cut off the tallest stems as I would like them to grow in width instead of more height. They have been such beautiful plants in the past and I don't know what is wrong this year. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments (3)

luis_pr
12 years ago
It sounds like you are describing what happens to hydrangeas stems when they get injured by winter and either the whole stem dries out or parts dry out. And as a result of that, the plant produces less leaves than normal. In such cases, you may also see some new growth (new stems) developing from the crown.

Since some stems may be partially or completely dead, you can try to prune the shrubs a bit after they have bloomed so the remaining stems have about the same height and are not lopsided here and there.
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October_Gardens
12 years ago
You are probably one of the few hydrangea owners in zone 3, and it's great you got any type to grow there. I wish some of us here could speak from experience in that zone, but I don't think it's likely anyone has it.
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I need one of those Annabelles. I doubt if I will have any hydrangea blooms this year. I am almost positive there will be none on the Nikkis. The one that used to be pink, but is becoming more purplish, is a Forever Pink ( I think). So far it shows no sign of a bloom. Same with the Bluebird, and the oakleaf. I bought some bird netting in town yesterday, and will drape it over them to deter the deer. I have ran out of fencing. All of my hydrangeas had to start over from below after 'The Freeze'. The hooved rodents have kept the native hydrangeas in my backyard bed pruned to the ground!
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DonnieJean
Original Author
12 years ago
To Springwood Gardens, there are lots of people growing hydrangeas in zone 3. Mostly Limelights, Annabelles and PeeGees. None that I have seen that can turn pink or blue (those are in zone 4).

Since my original post, I have read that Limelights prefer full sun. Having planted on the east side of my house, the 3 that aren't doing as well are the farthest from the south corner of the house.

To luis_pr, I think you may be right about the winter damage. I realized that the two that are doing the poorest were subjected to too much water from the roof downspout in the fall, causing extra ice build-up in winter, and too much water again in spring. Guess I'm lucky they are alive. We have moved the downspout, but I'm going to transplant at least these two into more sunlight. Should I wait until after they have bloomed or to fall before transplanting?
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