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Limelight blooming on only one side

10 years ago

I have three Limelights that have been planted for 4 - 5 years. They are at the back of our property and only the side which faces the field seem to bloom. The side which faces our house does not bloom. The side facing the field faces east and gets plenty of full sun, but the side which faces our house also gets quite a bit of sun. They get a little bit of shade from an old cherry tree. They are over 6 feet tall now and have never been pruned. I prune out any dead branches and cut off dead flowers from the previous year in the spring. What is causing this and is there any thing that I can do to encourage flowering on both sides of the bushes? Thank you so much for your help.

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Comments (4)

luis_pr
10 years ago
Perhaps you have some unwanted pests that approach the Limelights from the side that faces your house. I am thinking deer. Squirrels and bunnies can also cause damage but bunnies only affect the bottom growth of the plant because they are small.

Or perhaps the side that faces your house is getting too much nitrogen from the times when the lawn is fertilized (lawn fertilizer is very high in nitrogen). Once the nitrogen levels get high enough, the plant begins to produce nice lush green leaves at the expense of blooms. You can confirm this using a soil analysis kit designed to tell if the soil has too much/little nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Ruth_MI
10 years ago
I'm guessing that it's due to there being more shade by the house. I have some Limelights facing south (but not in full sun), and the south side definitely blooms more than the north side. They're not up against the house, but they still bloom much more on the "sunny side."

It doesn't seem likely to me that part of the shrub has a nitrogen issue and part of the same shrub doesn't.
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Karen w -- You are making me very jealous here! I hope my Limelight will reach that status in the years to come. I have to say, at first I didn't think it could be possible, but after reading your post, I have hope. (What is your secret? TELL ME NOW!) Also, I just came back from a local nursery that has some. While the plants are half the size as mine, the blooms are twice as big! What am I doing wrong?! Ah, I guess I will just have to give it more time (and whatever your secret is...TELL ME!). :-) By the way, mine is also in full sun for most of the day. I can attest that zone 5 "full sun" is very different from zone 9 or 10 "full sun". My tragic sunburn from my recent trip to San Diego is testament to that! :-)
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Yeah, they WERE moved this year;(. Our home is two years old and this spring we did some revamping on a few landscape areas. Im pretty sure they werent eaten by anything...there were no signs of buds...just foliage. They were all purchased at the same time - they were all different sizes but healthy when purchased. Do you think it was just stressed and hopefully next year it will come back? So, when I prune next spring, perhaps I should wait a bit longer. How far down do you go? This post was edited by ajc9 on Thu, Aug 15, 13 at 14:22
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greenhavenrdgarden
10 years ago
The shady side should have some blooms. If there's none than my guess is deer or woodchucks or another hungry animal. I have 11 limelights in everything from full sun to mostly shade. The full sun shrubs do bloom more than the mostly shade but they all do bloom.
Some of my shrubs are lopsided as well. In my case it's been animal damage. Some of them I didn't even know the damage was done until bloom time. It could have been while the plant was still short earlier in the season.
jacquierz5bmi
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for all the replies. I didn't think of a fertilizer issue, Luis. I don't think it is deer...we do live in the country and have plenty of deer, but they do not seem to bother anything in my yard. I shouldn't even say that - I am jinxing myself. The only thing they have ever really eaten is the cedars. I went out to check just now, and they do seem to be developing some tiny buds. They are not nearly as far along as the ones on the field side some of which are quite large, so I think it is the sun issue. So I guess this is an issue I will have to deal with for a while.

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