Out here in Illinois, about 2 miles from Lake Michigan with heavy clay soil, my local nursery recommended planting the trunk flare junction "even with or 1-2" inches above existing grade." I didn't understand what this meant at the time, but I'm thinking it's consistent with planting above grade, so I think I'm going to aim for that. If I'm interpreting the local nursery instructions wrong, please tell me! Here is a picture of our front bed. There is room to move the hydrangea over to the right and forward (and I think, aesthetically, it would probably be better placed there), so I am planning to do that. That will allow me to dig an entirely new hole, which, this time, I will dig only to the depth of the root ball. Depending on what the soil looks like, I plan on tilling the entire area between the old hole and new hole (or double dig) to combine the soils together. Question: If the soil very over amended, should I still do this? Or would I be better off leaving the overly amended area and just starting over in the new area? I would probably still add some amendment to the new area (adding no amendment at all makes me nervous), but I would only add about 20% cotton burr compost. And one last question on amending. The plants in the middle of the bed and scattered around are, I think, some type of onion. I am waiting for them to bloom this year, but then plan on transplanting them in our backyard somewhere. Point being: once I dig the onions up in fall, I plan on amending the rest of the bed before the fall. That was my logic for amending only the planting holes right now. Does this make any difference in terms of whether it's a good idea to amend the planting holes? Thank you, all, for the advice! (I have now been informed that the marestail at the right which had been serving as a focal point (guffaw!) is, in actuality, an invasive weed). :-) This post was edited by fampoula on Thu, Jul 4, 13 at 22:53

Rb, you don't tell us because you don't want us to know or because you don't know? Just kidding (gggg). Re: dieback. It's my understanding that PG trained as a standard and left to its own for years (typical example would be old PGs growing at cemetaries) could become very unkemp looking by the reason I call 'visual dieback'. I have an unsubstantiated theory about this and would be glad to have everybody's opinion about it. As branches become thicker and thicker bark on them become thicker as well, leaf buds can't penetrate it and new growth occures only at the tips of the old long branches. Some adventurous buds that still will be able to grow thru the old bark spend most of their energy to do so and are not productive. Since new growth is not produced anymore neither from the base of the tree nor from the most of the lenghts of the old branches you'll see new growth and flowers only on outside part of the plant. That is creating how I call it a 'visual dieback' effect. In a PGs trained as a trees this effect could ruin the whole appearance while in a shrub form it doesn't play such role. Hope you remember this pictures I posted here a few times Obviously nobody pruned this, planted in 1978, shrub for at least last 20 years. I got a chance to see it very close. Upon close inspection the main trunk become a 6 or 7 trunks growing together sometimes splitting, but sometimes growing one into each other. Nevertheless, of all 15-16' width of it, only outer 4 to 5' has viable buds in a spring, but that is enough to cover all ugly insides and create the most stately and gorgeous PG I ever saw.

Unfortunately Bombshell has that unexplained reputation, mostly in cold zones. The most steps that I would suggest: wait at least three years for the plant to get established in your garden and develop a good root system; make sure that it gets at least 4 hours of sun; make sure you have no pests (deer, bunnies, etc) that might be eating the flower buds; make sure you do not fertilize too much (once a year is probably enough) as this can raise nitrogen levels and results in poor or no blooms; make sure that you water deeply and keep the soil as evenly moist as you can in order to prevent periods of dry soil, followed by periods of moist soil, followed by periods of dry soil again; make sure the soil is not deficient in phosphorus; make sure you do not ever prune it (it should not need pruning if it is as compact as the ads say). I contacted the wholesaler on behalf of others years ago and the only reply they gave me was that it was probably being pruned and to never prune it. Unfortunately, I had stated in my email that these shrubs were never pruned so their reply was not helpful. They did not answer me again. I can only speculate that it is either super late blooming and-or that, in locations with a short growing season, the stems are not getting tall enough to produce/open flower buds before Fall arrives. Fall then makes the plant go dormant and kills the buds instead. So like the wholesaler said, yes, do not ever prune it at any time... well, that might help in warm locations but in colder zones with short growing seasons, you still end with no blooms no matter what, right? I would hope that, at some point, with no pruning, the stems may get tall enough and the root system may get large enough to eventually get some bloomage out. Unfortunately, we have not heard if waiting at least 3 years helped as the people who posted did not repost. It is a rare problem for paniculatas that blooms so reliably. If you check all the above suggestions and it has not bloomed by year 3, I too would suggest replacing it. Luis

GHo/Lovemy. Circling back on this thread..... I did my * 2022* pruning on the youngest LL today. The interior canopy has the strongest branching / new wood comes really strong and will hold the blooms all season vert. On some of the younger branching, it rained the other day and it's raining today. I surveyed what stems I will want for next year to continue forming the framework *which will get cut down some in spring*, and I removed the beautiful bloom off of it. The blooms filled up 1/3 of the garbage can. Siggghhh I did not do this in former years and let Dwarnisim choose it's course. What happens IME is stems stay weighed down and don't recover. They remain either in the funky downward curve (either curve down or it does this downward curve and then a U turn back up) instead of being nice straight and vert. I do this as once the bloom is cut, instead of the stem being weighted down and not recovering later in the season, the stem reverts back vert. Also, it's also -pre mitigation- should that stem snap later in the season with the continued rains in fall and the heavy bloom I kinda consider this my early -2022- pruning/shaping strategy. Don't do it on everything, just things I want to aid in shaping.