I did fertilize it with 1/4 Cup of Alfalfa Meal in May...

Obviously can't confirm if an All Summer Beauty or not but I do think it is too early to discount flowering for this season. Mid to late summer is not at all out of line for new growth blooms so you should have a good 4-6 weeks of time left before giving up.

There are some very mixed opinions about how reblooming reblooming hydrangeas really are - "all summer" is a stretch under any conditions. In most cases, provided the old growth suffered no winter cold damage, one can expect an initial bloom at whatever time appropriate for your area but it is unlikely to be continuous until the new growth blooming kicks in.....there is always a lag of some period. And if waiting for flowering on new growth only, that is always several weeks to a couple months into the "typical" hydrangea season. I would term most of the reblooming hydrangeas as sporadic rebloomers rather than all summer rebloomers :-)

FWIW, alfalfa meal is a very good organic nitrogen source but the more nitrogen one applies, the less inclined a flowering plant is to flower. Hydrangeas are not heavy feeders so a topdressing every spring of compost is usually sufficient.

Ok thank you very much gardengal!

ASB is not remontant for me-do you winter protect? If you preserve some old wood I think you will see blooms.

I did not winter or Spring protect.
What's the best way to winter protect All Summer Beauty??? Thanks

Gardengal,

The reason I fed All Summer Beauty alittle Alfalfa Meal is our roses bloom like crazy using it.....
But I can see Hydrangea may be a bit more fussy
with fertilizers...

I use the 2-1-2 Alfalfa Meal from Dr Earth....

This post was edited by jim1961 on Sun, Jul 14, 13 at 21:57

Jim,

If it makes you feel any better only 1 out of 5 of my new hydrangeas are blooming or even showing buds. 3 were planted last year and two this year, one of these two is in bloom. The hydrangea 'experts' around here told me exactly what gardengal48 said and to not expect much the first 'full' year or two they are in the ground, by the third look out :-) I also bought them all in small 1 gal pots.

I have a feeling it will surprise you, just not right now.

SCG

I guess I just need to be patient...lol
Thanks everyone! :)

Do these Hydrangea's take the heat better as they age?
We just started having 88-90 degree days and even
though I water this guy early in the morning it looks
stressed out like it needs water a couple hours later.
I notice it does that every hotter day whether its watered or not...

Is it in full sun? If so, it will continue to look stressed anytime the weather turns hot, dry and sunny regardless of how old the plant is. Even in my pretty mild summer climate, hydrangeas in full sun in summer look wilty and stressed. These would really prefer a part shade location - morning sun and afternoon shade or dappled/filtered shade is ideal.

Thanks,
I will have to transplant it next year then as it now gets sun from noon until sunset...
I'll have to find a better location somewhere... hummm

Well does not look like I'm going to get any blooms this year either off our All Summer Beauty. (planted June 2012)
The Bush itself looks very healthy though...

Hopefully something happens next year... :)

This post was edited by jim1961 on Tue, Aug 13, 13 at 21:44