Hello, Judy. Need more info. You said that you "covered" the hydrangeas. Can you elaborate more? Covered how?

Have any of the 4 shrubs leafed out yet? Or do you just have dried out looking, leafless stems?

You implied that there are other hydrangeas with buds? Do you know what are the names of those hydrangeas?

Fortunately you didn't need to cover any hydrangeas in GA this past winter but the previous two winters were disastrous for macrophylla type hydrangeas.

Yep, you're better taking your chances in zone 7-8 than actually doing any such work. If by chance they were over-covered (solid) they might've gotten moldy or weren't able to get enough water.

You are not alone..my 2 Twist & Shout have small flowerheads but my covered 5 ES & 2 Forever & Evers have NO sign of flowers..discouraging after looking at ugly covered up shrubs for months..in 10 years they have NEVER bloomed on new wood either..

After 2 years of no blooms I decided to cover 4 Glowing Ember mop heads prob early Feb maybe later. I collected leaves after they dried out and made a wire form to hold them. There was no rot anywhere and they are leafed out beautifully but no blooms. I have several other varieties of mop heads that have tons of buds. Should I cover at a diff time next year or just wait for a late freeze in the spring to cover? Judy

My zone is colder..will let someone more knowledgeable about your zone give advice..jealous that u have tons of buds on some of yours..

Hi, Judy. Yes, I would suggest that you do it earlier in the Fall. The invisible flower buds develop in July-August. Afterwards and until they open in the Spring, that is when early frosts, late frosts, winter weather and lack of moisture/water can kill them. A good time to put winter protection is when the plant goes dormant or before your average date of first frost minus 1 or 2 weeks. Make sure that the protection "protects" the ends of the stems since this is where the buds develop. If you put chicken wire around the buds, make sure the chicken wire extends past the stems. The more separation, the more winter protection they get. That also applies to the vertical side. The chicken wire should be higher than the stems that are growing upwards. Again, the more separation between the vertical stems and the chicken wire and the cardboard, the better. Last suggestion, make sure that you pack the leaves down or use organic mulch. Press the leaves down to get rid of air pockets and put more in mid winter if you notice that settling has occurred; this usually weakens the winter protection.

In the rare cases that I put the chicken wire winter protection, I place the wire -only- in October. The plants go dormant in Nov-Dec for me so the chicken wire is there and "ready to go" when the plants go to sleep or if hear there is going to be a crash in temperatures big time.

Luis, So since the others are fine that weren't covered I just figured these would be fine. I didn't water any of them bc I usually don't. What would you think,the issue was? Thanks for your opinion. Judy

Good morning, Judy. I am still looking for clues. They would not start blooming 'in sync' with the others as the winter protected ones got no sunlight thru winter and the others did. So I would expect these four to bloom later, once the protection is removed. But, hmm, exactly how many days ago did you remove the winter protection? Maybe you just need to give them some time in the sun??

I know that the blooming time also varies from one mophead named variety to another, albeit slightly (days or a week + or -). It can also vary by a few days on the same named hydrangea if they are planted beside each other. And some people have two of the same type and say they can react differently but four in unison that are not blooming is weird unless you removed the protection like on Sunday.

What can you say about the other hydrangeas? Are they mopheads/lacecaps too? What are their names? Are they physically close to these four?

Maybe the winter protection was not 'strong' enough. You need a ton of leaves. And you may need to add more in mid-winter due to settling. Maximize the distance from the chicken wire to the end of the stems, horizontally and vertically speaking. Did you put a lot of leaves? How close, in inches, was the chicken wire to the ends of the stems?

You know looking at them today none of the hydrangeas planted in the closest proximity to the 4 Glowing Embers have buds. On the other side of the path separating the two areas have several with buds and a few without. Most are mop heads but I have no clue who they are. I have a couple lace caps that are budded up too.

As far as the chicken wire I saved some leaves and did add more as they settled. Some tips did stick out but the ones not covered were exposed too so it makes no sense to me.

They have been uncovered for a couple months now. I'm just going to go with it and if they bloom they bloom and yaaaay!!! If not then booooo!!

I appreciate everyone's advice!!! Thanks a bunch, Judy

For one thing, your soil in that general vicinity could be too high in nitrogen. You can try a high phosphorus (middle number) fertilizer and see if that helps. Others have reported milorganite has helped blooming.

Whars the highest phosphorous anyone here has used? I saw a 12-55-5 at the store the other day and I'm tempted to try it on a Guinea pig!

Hi spring wood! I put some Jacks classic 10-30-20 after reading about it on another thread. Hope it helps!! Judy

Or you could just let them grow on their own accord. My daughter's two hydrangeas (one oak-leaf and one old mop-head - both from my old house) were at the peak of perfection when I saw them this Thursday. She does not water them, they are in lots of sun, they are never pruned, and looked very healthy this year.

The backside of the oak-leaf is later due to less sun?

I've always let them grow on their own accord just to have them get hit by a late freeze the last two years and not have any blooms hardly. Most others have blooms this year except the ones I covered. Just very strange to me. I have no problem growing oankleafs or paniculatas or Annabella's. Judy

Yep, the winters of 2014 and 2015 where we dipped into single digits for a few nights wreaked havoc on macrophyllas but paniculatas, arborescens, and quercifolia skated through those winters. Fortunately this winter was a mild one and the macrophyllas had no issues (about time!) I guess covering them caused the problems you experienced?

Apparently so hc. Who knew? The first year I've ever covered and then we have a warm winter. Go figure. Your daughters hydrangeas look beautiful.