Happy 4th, he8833. The ES Website says that deadheading of spent blooms promotes new bloom production with these rebloomers and that dense shade can inhibit flower production so take appropriate action. Also, maintain the soil as constantly moist (never wet) as best as you can since periods of moist-dry-moist can make the shrubs abort blooms and flower buds. If the shrub is planted in the ground, do not fertilize it when it is stressed. Perhaps use weak fertilizers instead such as liquid seaweed or coffee grounds. If it is planted in a container, fertilize as needed and pay special importance to soil moisture these months. Make sure that the soil pH is not too low or too high and maintain 3-4" of mulch.

My reblooming Endless Summer does similar to roses... it blooms before the summer starts and then takes a break during the hot summer months. I have noticed a tendency to rebloom as soon as the temperatures go down in August.

Luis

Here is a link that might be useful: Twist n Shout Information

Thanks for posting this site - I have been observing closely these 3 M'Day T&S i have promptly planted in 3 different sites/sun-exposures. I clipped all the nursery produced blooms but not before observing their color conversions from pinks to lavenders & to blues. Also observed the obvious sun factor on speed of producing new stems & accompanying finials ~ quite interesting & very lovely!!!

I'm keeping close notes & report next season (after all the nursery bootings of hormones have washed out!

Thanks again Luis!

I got my first one in mid-May, in full flower, and sat it in a pot where it got mostly sun. I was impressed because it did not droop or wilt. I then deadheaded it and sunk it in the ground, gets the same amount of sun, and it has a full round of 10 blooms ready to come out again! The leaves turn darker in the sun but do not crisp or crumble which is very impressive. Although lacecaps seem to make a bigger impression in the shade, I can't bear to move this one.

H~e~a~t wave eased up a bit & I going to brave digging back up T&S #3 to relocate beside T&S#1 who is absolutely happy in the AM sun exposure & has grown in leaps w/ new finials on each new tip! #2 is happy in her site as well w/ a bit less sun exposure. In my short experimental observations ~ nearly every thing Luis pointed out was observed.

I just waited a bit for temps to drop before attempting this risky move now ~ I figured, before she gets too settled in the shady front foundation she'd be happier & should have time to bounce right back. I'll report back in a few!

Wish me luck Luis!!!

Good luck, indeed. If you were here in Texas, I would say to get reeeeeeeally comfortable waiting for temperatures to go down. August is usually our warmest month and with temperatures already so high, I can only hope for a hurricane to break this spell and bring them down! If not, it may be until September.

On a funny note... I remember a visit my parents made in August to Texas in the 80s.... the temperatures that year reached to the 115s. Ha! They never visited again in August! Hee hee hee!

Thanks Luis ~ Mission accomplished! The heat went back up but not nearly to boiling point ~ even if my *Karate Kid* style bandana was sopping wet & my shirt stuck to my back ~ to me it felt like 3 digits!

Don't blame your folks ~ It was like a visit I did to FL in Aug ~ I never visited FL again & I was younger then! But I loved the authentic *Keylime Pie*!

T&S #3 has not settled well where she was so the dig was not too tough ~ got the entire root ball intact. The prepared hole I did ahead ~ a bit at a time during those 3digit days worked out well I parked an empty 4gal pot to hold the spot w/ a name tag in case an impulse *take-out* find its way in it! Ha ha.

Nope ~ I planted the very last 4 Hy'dras!!! Oooops I have 4 rooted babies ~ so I guess not yet!!!

Will report back in a bit! Thanks again!

It's not even been a week in the new home for T&S & already new shoots of stems & fat buds are sprouting & forming. I'm glad there was enough room for #3!

Luis I've been thinking of the 100++ deg temps you continue to have in TX ~ Ma Nature gifted us w/ a nice break these past 2 days w/ mighty sun went resting behind overcast skies & a down-pour today even, just when all the Roses & Hyd'ras were truly begging for a respite. I hope you guys get your needed break soon!!!

he8833 - how is your T & S blooming now? You didn't have your zone listed. We had a cool & wet spring, so plants have been slower to come into bloom. While July was sparse August has been amazing as each week more blooms open & existing are holding. The stems have flopped, but they're brightly tipped with the lovely lacecap blooms.

I have acid soil, but since I bought the T & S for the pink blooms amended with lime & plant to keep applications of lime for it to remain pink or at least pinkish for awhile.

Thanks to the posters on this forum I picked up my first Hydrangea cultivar. H. macrophylla 'Twist N Shout'. Here it is, still with some flowers and buds.

Now I need to find a good sized Vanilla Strawberry somewhere.

Steve

Steve, when you get a VS, post pictures of VS blooms to see if they look as good as they appear in Internet pictures from the nurseries.

If I had space for large hydrangeas, I would have caved in and bought VS already!