You say ”it comes up every year.” Does this mean it dies to the ground every winter? If so, that’s your answer. Macrophyllas produce a permanent woody structure in conducive climates and that’s where the flowers will grow, on old wood. If yours is behaving like a herbaceous perennial rather than a shrub it sounds as if the location is too cold for it. Unless, of course, you’ve been cutting it down in autumn.... If so, stop.

It looks tiny to me. Too small to bloom. Agree with the above - have you been trimming it?

Hydrangea macrophylla Amethyst is a cultivar that only blooms on old wood. That means it develops flower buds for spring 2022 about a month after it stopped opening more new spring 2021 blooms. If all those stems got pruned too early in 2022 (before they normally leaf out), if the stems got killed by the winter of 2021-2022 or if the stems got killed by late frosts in 2022 then all new plant growth would originate from the crown/base and there would be no blooms in 2022. To avoid pruning stems before they leaf out, a allow old stems to leaf out much, much, more later than new growth does though; old wood may leaf out as late as the end of May in the south or the end of June (even July) in the north. There should now be flower buds inside the ends of the stems and these will open in spring 2023 if all goes well. Protect from late frosts in spring 2023 (until the 3rd-4th weeks of April) to ensure the buds/stems are not killed. This type of macrophylla prefers morning sun (until 11am) or dappled sun only. The soil may be dry but I can only see the top of the mulch.

I'm absolutely not pruning it! LOL I have 2 other Endless Summer hydrangeas nearby that bloom just fine, and I treat this one the same. They all had the same amount of sun and water, too.

I don't think I've ever seen stems on this one, now that I think about it. Just the same leaves that you see now.

I intentionally bought this one because the size is supposed to be smaller than the Endless Summer (24-30" tall, compared to the ES that are more like 6' tall), which makes it better up front while the other hydrangeas are in the back of the garden. It's been disappointing for it to be in center stage, but never bloom :-/

"I don't think I've ever seen stems on this one, now that I think about it. Just the same leaves that you see now." - that may suggest that last year's stems are not making it until blooming time in spring.

Hydrangeas that bloom only on old wood in spring 2022 can have their 2021 stems or the 2021 flower buds in their stems affected by one of these scenarios. See which one may apply:

* very cold temperatures during winter;

* late frosts in spring 2022;

* fluctuating warm temperatures that cause flower buds to break dormancy just as a sharp crash in temperatures follows... common in February-March;

* pruning done since the spring producing blooms originally formed in the summer of 2021;

* fertilizing too late in 2021 (your last application of a fertilizer should occur before the 3rd-4th weeks of July) or too early in 2022 (start fertilizing after the 3rd-4th weeks of April);

* deer pruning;

* unusually dry, mild, winter weather;

* using fertilizers high in nitrogen, which results in green, dark foliage but few or no blooms.

To get blooms from this one, you will need to winter protect it until all danger of frost has passed. There are other cultivar alternatives too. From amongst re-bloomer hydrangeas, try a re-bloomer Let's Dance Blue Jangles which gets from 1-2 feet tall or any other compact, similarly-sized, smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens): Invincibelle Wee White, which gets 1 to 2.5 feet high. The first one blooms on both old and on new wood. The second one, a more reliable bloomer, blooms on only new wood. Both require morning sun until 11am or so, just like Amethyst. You can order from www.provenwinners.com

As your pictures of the labeling show EVERLASTING within this context is a registered trademark and Amethyst in this instance a trade name. With the patented cultivar* actually being 'Hokomathyst'. Likewise ENDLESS SUMMER is not cultivar specific, but instead a marketing term Bailey nursery uses to promote what has become multiple different introductions. With what was once 'Endless Summer' becoming in time ENDLESS SUMMER The Original ('Bailmer'). So posts referring to ENDLESS SUMMER/'Endless Summer' should specify which cultivar they are talking about. Because these words no longer apply to a single variety of hydrangea. And haven't for awhile now.

*Looks here like it might be itself - or at least derived from - a kind selected for use as a florist pot crop rather than garden decoration because it was discovered in a greenhouse in Boskoop: USPP22261P2 - Hydrangea plant named ‘Hokomathyst’ - Google Patents

Unfortunately, @Embothrium, I don't know which Endless Summer I have :-/ I keep notes of everything but not the actual tags, so all I know is "Endless Summer".

We did have an exceptionally cold winter last year, so my Endless Summer didn't bloom in the Spring like usual! It is blooming now, though, on new wood.

So I guess I'll just give this Everlasting hydrangea another year, and if it doesn't bloom next year then I'll move it to a less prominent spot.

Any suggestions on fertilizing or anything?

straight down pix are wonky.. no one ever came up with a reason why ..

i cant tell how tall your plant is ...

one sign of over fert.. is all green growth with no flower.. so i would not fert the thing ... did you fert it on planting..

if its shorter than its supposed to be.. i would wonder if it sank.. or was planted too deep ... but i cant tell from the straight down pic ...

if it were mine.. and it started pissing me off like this ... i might dig it up.. throw it across the yard.. and at a couple tree trunks.. and then replant it.. obviously bare root ...

this has worked often with struggling plants.. some suggest hormones are released.. in the sense of survival hormones ... other just suggest you feel better about the stress its been giving you.. lol .. teach that thing a lesson.. if you will ..

and if it makes it die next year.. well good.. who needs an underperforming POS in the garden anyway ...

ken

im surprised you didnt include the perennial forum .... rather than garden or garden clinic ...

I'd follow up on luis_pr suggestion of trying different varieties thought more suitable

“im surprised you didnt include the perennial forum .” Shrubs would have been more appropriate since it is not what is commonly considered a perennial. ie herbaceous perennial.

im surprised you didnt include the perennial forum .... rather than garden or garden clinic ...

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5, I mostly just go by the recommendations on the site :-) It has an inherent flaw of having WAY too many subforums, and there's no clear way of knowing which ones are active.

And there's really no easy description of what some of them are even for! I always assumed that "Garden Clinic" was for advise on anything regarding a plant not being in great health, but I just saw for the first time that it says that it's for pests and diseases! But without physically going to that subforum, there's no way to know that.

Speaking of which, there are 4 or 5 of you that always respond to me in pretty much any subforum. I know that you don't read through each of them manually, so how do you keep up with it to that degree? There has to be a site feature that I'm overlooking.