I have ES growing in 2 different places: one is on the Notrh-East side of the house and another one is on the West-facing side. And they are so different that almost feels like 2 different varieties. This is how ES from West side looks like (it is smaller, leaves are somewhat paler, but blooms reliably every year): And this is my ES from the Notrh-East side. In fact , these are 3 hydrangeas planted in a row. They are much taller, with dark-green leaves and have fewer flowers between three of them than the one growing on the West side. Also, their flowers are mostly hidden in the foliage. These ones get more attention than their sister: they get fertilized with liquid 20-20-20 at least once a month, while the one above gets a handful of granular fertilizer in spring and thatâÂÂs it: This post was edited by green_go on Sat, Jul 26, 14 at 22:24

I waited for those with more knowledge on the subject of plant-specific fertilizers to respond. But, instead David has given you the excellent advice of using a good quality compost. Matoad, you may be looking for experience & info on Shultz, Osmocote, or Peters or some other but I don't really have that. Certainly, I can't think how something like bone meal could harm anything. It will break down slowly and improve soil tilth because of that. Despite my organic veggie gardening, I use Miracle-Gro in the flowers every year. I just see it as having a broader benefit than the 16-16-16 which goes in the beds during the Spring. Plants need different nutrients to grow and bloom and not all of those nutrients will be found in your garden soil. Which ones are lacking can only be determined by a soil test. However, mostly your plants need chlorophyll, sunlight, fresh air, and water since most of the plant ends up as carbohydrates arranged in appropriate ways. Certain nutrients can't be ignored and some required in only minute amounts may be lacking. What to do, what to do?? I find organic fertilizers make infinite sense in the veggie garden partly because they have that broad range of nutrients in their plant & animal (rather than just mineral) origins. Now that these organic fertilizers are leaving the $1/pound price range behind, I'm concerned but will continue to go that route. I'll continue buying in bulk and thereby avoid this $2/pound rate that we are heading rapidly towards. Composted manure is the cheapest route to go but good quality has really gone out the window in my area. I would need to supplement manure with fertilizer anyway. I'll continue to use Whitney Farms and forgo the manure except in my own compost pile. The organic fertilizer is for the veggie garden. Most of the compost, however, is for the flower garden. Mostly, that is a result of where the bins are located. Maybe more importantly, is how little compost I can make out of plant wastes, kitchen parings, and a load of cow manure each year. May as well put it ALL in the dahlias, Sweet Wills, and Canterbury bells and not spread it ridiculously thin, hell-to-breakfast. For all the flowers, I'm continuing to use the 16-16-16 followed with 2 or 3 applications of Miracle-gro before blooming. digitS'

thanks deck guru! How about the pre-treat from, I guess what is mill glaze? Will try to post before/after pictures. And to ask that which I didn't in my earlier post...California Redwood color? What kind of name is that? What... is there Sahara Redwood species? I sometimes wish these companies would just tell it like it is...light redwood, dark redwood, very dark redwood, or even jsut red!

Rosey Rhino is blooming more then usual this year,and bigger blooms since I dug it up and put it in a pot.carnival in Brazil has struggled several years, then this year it got dug up and moved, tooIt don't have very many buds this year, less then six ,as I remember. Maryl, I have to water, too. My daughter watered most of mine today to keep me out of the heat.I just have to go out and water around 25 or so.