HelpfulGardener.com

I can not tell you how many hydrangeas Ive bought and I have had no luck. I have 1 that has not died yet, I thought it had died 2 years ago, but it came back up this year to my wonderment. It is about 3 inches tall and green. ANY help on how to make it grow faster and bloom??? Please don't allow me to strike again, cause I sure do love those flowers. I have no idea what kind it is, since I forgot all about it. Any help at all would be appreciated.

I'm zone 8, SC. I have loads of Hydrangia bushes and marvel at the fact that they are so easy to grow with our hot, humid summers. In the fall, Hydrangias lose their flowers and leaves and only dead looking stems are left. I don't cut away the stems in the winter as the flowers grow from new growth from the "old wood" the following Spring.
About the last of January, I put a very small amout of 5-10-10 fertilizer near the root base and work it into the soil and water it in. Other than that, I give them plenty of water and once a month I water with Miracle Grow plant food. I get loads of blooms in the summer. Hope this helps.
Bizzybee

If you purchased the hydrangeas you planted in full color bloom, you may have purchased floral hydrangeas, which are usually grown in a greenhouse and are almost impossible to get to survive outside unless you're in an area of the south that has the perfect climate for them. I learned this the hard way after purchasing them year after year around Mother's Day, laden with beautiful pink or blue flowers, planting them in the ground, and finding them dead within a few weeks or months. If you think this may be what has happened to you, it would certainly explain the problems you've had growing them. If you've been purchasing regular garden center hydrangeas, which are rarely in full bloom and not even close to being as pretty as the floral ones, then you may have a problem with the location you've planted them in. More details would certainly help determine the problem.

I have been getting them from lowes mostly, 1 of them I ordered from a nursery. Two are growing now, at this point I'm focusing on keeping them that way, since I have such a bad history with them. Mirical grow seemed to perk them up. Maybe I simply underestimate how much water they truely need??

Do they do well for a while and then start to do poorly, or do you lose them over the winter months? They do need water, but I'm sure you could overwater, very few plants like to have what is called "wet feet". If they are sitting in a water hole, they will likely suffer from root rot, which will eventually kill them. But, I have grown amazing hydrangeas in a space where I had drainage problems and never lost one. Are they getting sunshine for at least a few hours a day and is anything else growing around them? I've found that with plants, if they don't do well in one place, I don't continue to plant them there, and I move the ones that are doing poorly until I find a place they are happy in. I'm not a big fan of Lowe's plants, because they don't usually take care of them after they get them in the stores that I have shopped.. If you can get them the day they come off the truck you will usually be safe. I'm sure some stores do a much better job of that, but I have witnessed them sitting out on the parking lot and drying up over and over enough so that I do not usually buy plants there. All the same, if the plants were healthy when you bought them, they should have survived if you put them right in the ground when you got home. We had a similar problem with dogwoods when we lived in Virginia, my husband and I both love them as they are the state flower and we had a nice woodland type garden in our backyard where we planted them. After losing 7, for reasons we still do not know, my husband said, okay let's go get 3 more, and I looked at him and said "you have got to be kidding!, I know when I've been beaten!" So we gave up on dogwoods and never lost another tree. Ironically, my next door neighbor, who didn't know squat about plants, planted a dogwood in almost the exact location in his back yard, same light, same soil, same everything, and his flourished. I never understood, and I secretly held a grudge against Charlie every time his dogwood bloomed, but I didn't have the courage to try another time. So, if you think you've done everything right, you may want to pass on hydrangeas. If you think you've missed something, I would certainly keep trying. Keep me posted

You're in Kentucky so the climate should be good for Hydrangias. They do like water but don't over do it. When you buy them in full bloom and plant them and that bloom gets brown, cut it off. That way the plant is not trying to stress it's self out to keep that big blossom living. I like my Hydrangia's and just have a couple dozen of them!!! All colors from light to dark pink, blue, purple, red and white.
They are easy to root from cuttings too.

Thank you son much for all the helpful responses. My plants are still alive that came up this year. Maybe they are at a foot tall. At least they are not brown or anything. Green and pretty. I don't guess they will bloom this year huh? What should I do for them during the winter?

Shae, your plants will not bloom on the new growth unless they are the new "Endless Summer" varieties. The old traditional macrophylla hydrangeas bloom only on "old wood", or the stems that are left over from last year that are still alive. The best thing to do is to allow your plants to overwinter with all of the stems intact and then in the late spring cut only the dead growth out completely and cut the existing stems down to the live growth. This will save the "old wood" and you should have blooms on this part. If you have an "Endless Summer" variety it should bloom regardless of how you have cut it back over the winter. I'm assuming it was cut back pretty severely because you said they were only about a foot tall. I'm not sure what plant zone you are in, but if you're in 7 or higher your bushes should overwinter just fine. You should be able to google how to overwinter them if you are in a plant zone that is 6 or lower. If you want to post some photos, it may be easier to tell if there is anything else you need to do. Best of luck.
JP