I'll tell you what I did and then decide if it is suitable for you. First, I'm in a warmer end of z6 and only on a rare ocassion all buds of 30+ macrophyllas I grow got killed. So, I didn't protect any of them and had no serious reason to grow ES since there are many much more interesting hydtangeas. However, I had one particular spot in a garden where macs don't want to bloom even after relatively warm winters. Problem with this spot is that it's in a full sun the whole winter and early spring and then become part-shaded as season progresses. What usually happens there is that hydrangeas buds start swelling very early and got zupped by March frosts. I planted three ES there last year and usual thing happened again even though we had an unusually warm winter. On April 1 I pruned all three of them to 6-8" off the ground leaving two pairs of live buds on a stem. By July they produced a lot of new growth from the old stems as well as from the base. First bloom occured on or about August 1, 4 months after pruning, on a new growth from the old stems and since then they are in a CONSTANT bloom because new growth from the base also produced flower buds, but 1-1.5 months later than the first set. This picture was taken last week. As you can see, right now I have a combo of aged (pink), semi-aged and new(blue) flowers on a same plant. Though plants are only 2'+ tall (no wonder with such severe spring pruning) I finally made hydrangeas bloom in that spot. How all this should be translated to z5? Unless you want to go a long way to protect current year top growth and have a mid-summer bloom, you may instead simply settle for the late-summer bloom on a new growth and do nothing, except mulching to protect the root zone.. Before ES was invented you had no luxury to chose the bloom time. Now you do.

Thanks for the reply. I suppose it could be the soil, as it was imported only this past spring and probably needs more seasoning and/or some good homemade compost added to it. It is a combination of a loam and mushroom compost (sans worms), btw. I did fertilize with Plant-Tone a couple of weeks after the hydrangeas were planted but I guess I will need to get a soil test done or call the people that I purchased the mix from to see if they can tell me more about it. Thanks again.

Hello, kfog1951. If you mean 'doing nothing' now, that part of the yard (and the west side as well) probably gets quite warm. My hydrangeas rarely show any growth once temps get warm/hot in May (above 85F). My roses go into hiatus and stop blooming too. I guess I cannot blame them. Some exceptions: vigorous paniculatas like Limelight, specially in locations where the sun is "weak". If you mean this year, please give us more information on their care (are they potted/in the ground, pruning - when , watering - how many gallons and how often, fertilizing - what product, when, how much, sunlight - from what hour of the day through what hour, soil - well draining, sandy, potting mix in potted plants - what kind of potting mix, etc). Watering twice a day sounds like it is too much but that is comment uttered without knowing any details...

Sorry to hear that, cmeister419. I think he owes you at least a Starbucks Cafe Latte, no? Or something else? ;o) Thank God that this issue normally will not kill hydrangeas! Clarification... You did not say where you are; you wrote that 'all new wood from the previous season was chopped' instead of 'all old wood from the previous season was chopped'. Scenario 1: I assume that your last sentence meant that all the stems that ES had from last year were chopped by your husband this year and that you are now getting new growth. Based on that assumption, the flower buds that developed in the Fall (approx time frame) got cut and will not produce blooms in the early Spring time frame that they usually do for you. ES reblooms so it can produce late flower buds that produce late blooms as well but only from the mature new growth. So there is a chance that the new growth may result in flower buds and bloomage. This requires that the new growth get old enough to produce flower buds that open/bloom in the Summer/Fall time frames. It also requires that the Fall conditions that trigger dormancy do not interfere with the new growth's flower buds blooming process. You did not say where you are but some people with short growing seasons (think in cold zones) complain about not get this 2nd set of blooms at times. So, think about how ES has done in your garden reblooming-wise. If your ES hedge normally "reblooms" for you then you have a good chance to get new flower buds and blooms later on this year. Scenario 2: If you meant to say that ES produced new growth this year, your husband then cut the old and the new stems this year and ES is now producing even more new growth theeen your chances of bloomage are less. Think how ES has done in your garden (reblooming-wise) before. If it typically has produced late blooms then -MAYBE- it may produce very delayed flower buds this year. To get flower buds from a second set of new growth, the stems just have to get mature enough before winter/dormancy time arrives. Because this is the 2nd set of new growth, bud production will occur later than normal so, chances of bloomage may go down. You have a better chance of getting blooms in warm locations with their long growing seasons. Again, to get blooms under this scenario, the stems have to get mature enough to produce flower buds, wait for the buds to open and then bloom. If your growing season is long enough then these delayed flower buds might open and produce bloomage in mid or late Fall.... The other thing to also consider is your winter season's start and the reduced sunlight and photosynthesis. If your weather during the 2018 Fall is cold enough to trigger dormancy, the "delayed" flower bud production for this year may run into cold spells and weather conditions that could prevent bloomage. You will not know for sure until Fall arrives. Gosh, sorry this mess happened. I basically had something similar happen years ago... I told a friend that she could come and cut the blooms for arrangements. But she waited long enough that I plum forgot. I thhought she had decided not to get any blooms and felt safe I would get bloomage the next year (those hydrangeas only bloomed on old wood). Then I came back home one day and the blooms were gone. It was mid-July and my hydrangeas in TX develop old wood flower buds in early July. I ended with just two blooms on the following year. That is when added hydrangeas that bloom on new wood only. Sigh... Hope you get soooome bloomage. Say, why don't you have your husband plant you a new hydrangea shrub elsewhere in the garden!!! Luis