Bruce, in looking up the double flowering hosta, one hit was for Tony Avent's piece on his nursery website about fragrant flowering hosta. He was writing it I think not long after Aphrodite came available. One of his statements was to the effect that people south of Baltimore seldom got to see the fully opened blooms because it takes moisture, humidity, warm days, and cooler nights--or else the blooms turn to mush. I believe your location somewhere around Baltimore's latitude (not close to Baltimore, but westerly from it), and in the foothills at least of mountainous area, could give perhaps cooler evening temps. Sounds like a spot ideally suited for the plantaginea to bloom spectacularly. We have had a lot of rain on a regular basis. When it rains, the temps drop from the 90s down to 80 or thereabouts. Not exactly cool, but better than 90! If it is a temperature drop and not an absolute temperature that is the secret, then perhaps we might have a couple of the buds open anyway. I am anxiously awaiting the fate of my lone Aphrodite scape showing some white on its lower buds. Regardless of what happens with this one Aphrodite this year, I note your quarter-century (wow just think about THAT) dedication to perfecting conditions for the lovely Aphrodite. I don't have 25 years left to spend in any fashion, but what remains might as well be spent waiting for flowers to bloom, instead of watching paint dry. :) Your updates are unparalleled and thank you for sharing them here.

Thank you for sharing your lovely garden again with us, Marlorena. I've must say I smile every time I've seen a photo of Tottering-By-Gently - never saw the cartoon when I lived in England but the idea of it is so English, and those bright, innocent little single bloom faces peeping out through some apparently very nice dark foliage lift my heart. Wow, what a stunner A Midsummer Night's Dream is! Such rich colours, of both velvety petal and golden stamens, and so beautifully photographed, as is TBG... Is it related to Tuscany/Tuscany Superb I wonder? Is it a nice bush? Does it repeat bloom/ and/or set hips? I don't think I've heard of it before, likewise a couple of others of interest to me, M de Morand and Bellard. You do find some interesting treasures - I wonder if you buy them in England or from European suppliers? I hope you'll forgive me if I've already asked, and you've already told us at some point in the past, and the information has got lost somewhere in the nether regions of my memory.

Hello, ashAley. I would pay attention to the two sections titled Cold and Fertilizers (below) to see if any of them applies. Cold - Oakleaf hydrangeas are hardy to Zone 5 but its bloom hardiness may go south before reaching that zone. A colder micro-climate in this location may make things more difficult for the flower buds. If this planting location makes things colder, transplanting may be useful. The flower buds are invisible, develop in late Summer to early Fall and then open in the Spring. They are located around the ends of the stems. Timing - are other oakleaf hydrangeas near you now blooming or not yet? I would take a cue from nearby ones. I would also look in what kind of setting they are (sunlight-wise, etc). Pruning - I would not do any pruning until after the end of May or the start of June. The ends of the stems is where flower buds reside so pruning may cut them off. Wait until then to see if they leaf out late. If you want to check, you can always do a scratch test very carefully against the bark to see if you see "green". Fertilizers - Too much of a high nitrogen fertilizer can be a problem as it tends to keep the plants growing nice, lush green leaves with few or no blooms. Your chosen fertilizer is one example of that; it has 30% nitrogen (its NPK Ratio is 30-10-10). As large amounts of nitrogen accumulate, you get no blooms. Grass fertilizer pellets that get to the hydrangea would have the same effect as they too are high in nitrogen. I would use either (a) no fertilizers, (b) a slow release, general purpose chemical fertilizer with a NPK Ratio around 10-10-10 or (c) about 1 cup of cottonseed meal, organic compost or composted manure applied only once in Spring, around two weeks after your average date of last frost. That is it for the whole year. That would be good enough for the whoooooole growing season as these plants are not heavy feeders like roses. Late frosts - If the plant breaks dormancy before your average date of last frost (2nd-3rd weeks in May), the sap may start flowing just as late frosts arrive and kill your flower buds. So try using frost cloth, watering deeply before the late frost and maintaining lots of mulch under the shrub. Early frosts - To minimize damage from early frosts, I would make sure never to fertilize them in the Fall. A better bet may be to not fertilize them at all and let them feed off the decomposing mulch. If this had been a new plant, I would fertilize it only until it became established. So try using frost cloth, watering deeply before the early frosts and maintaining lots of mulch 2-4" under the shrub. Stop all forms of fertilizing about 3 months before you average date of first frost (2nd week in October for you). That includes coffee grounds. This will minimize damage from early frosts because if you fertilize, say, in September and then get a first frost in October, the plant may be in "grow mode" and the flower buds may get zapped. Dry times - after the plant goes dormant and the leaves brown out, do not stop watering completely. Reduce waterings to once a week or once every two weeks depending on the amount of rainfall. Do stop when it rains a lot, when temperatures go down to freezing and the soil freezes. Resume when the soil has thawed and you see leaf out. Sunlight - Dense shade can reduce the number of blooms and can sometimes detract from producing their famous fall foliage. But Dr. Dirr points out that oakleaf hydrangeas have a remarkable ability to bloom in full shade. Raising the canopy of trees that provide shade for example may help change a cold micro-climate. Trees that also have shallow roots will compete with all hydrangeas for water and fertilizer as hydrangeas usually have roots in the top 4". Finally, it is possible that the previous owner of the house knew about this problem but was only interested in the plant's fall foliage so the owner took no action to replace the plant or actions to help produce blooms.

Steven, you recently wrote about a rose road trip. I would encourage you to visit his June open house. It's a remarkable garden and such an opportunity to see what does well without coddling. He sells the majority of his roses then, as opposed to mail-order. It is difficult to grow roses in Z5 to as large specimens as other own root vendors, although he may custom graft to multiflora.. He did that last year when the late coldsnap hit in June and killed some plants. If you are interested drop an email and avoid the conversation if you're more comfortable with that. He's very responsive to email. The plants I've received are small, but considering he was the only source for them and they've all thrived and really grown well, I'm not so concerned. Even as small plants put in the ground in the Fall, they all survived the winter. Fingers crossed that 2020's rarities do the same. I hope to pick up this year's in June and grow them up myself.