My hydrangea won't bloom; why?

Question

I have a huge blue hydrangea bush that has beautiful healthy leaves and is a beautiful bush. But no one knows that it is a blue hydrangea because it has never had a bloom. Other similar bushes in my area have large, lovely blooms. The bush is about six years old; it had one bloom the first year and nothing since. How can I get it to bloom?

Answer 1

Most common reasons a hydrangea won't bloom:

Pruning at the wrong time during the season and eliminating the flower buds. My advice is to not prune your hydrangeas other than simple removal of spent flowers which will be pruned off just below the flower itself at the next lower set of buds. You may prune the tops of your hydrangeas after the active growth begins in spring and it is obvious what is dead and what is not. Be careful because even now I am still speculating that certain buds are dead only to notice a few weeks later that the bud I thought was dead is now a stem in active growth. Remember that paniculatas and arborescens can be pruned as they flower off of new growth. There are also some varieties of macrophylla that bloom off of new wood and can be pruned in late season. Those varieties are: 'All Summer Beauty', 'Penny Mac' and 'Endless Summer'. It is these hydrangeas that are confusing everybody as to what, when and where to prune or not prune. Don't put yourself in a situation where you are forced to prune. Be patient in the spring and wait for all buds to return before pruning the tips.

Too cold of a climate for successful hydrangea flowering. If you are in zone 5 you will not have luck with 95% of the available mopheads on the market. If your neighbors do not have hydrangeas, other than pee gees or annabelles, you are more than likely in too cold of an area for successful bud return. What confuses things is that the climate seems to be changing and zone lines may shift from year to year. We also are experiencing el nino every 7 years or so and this is causing variations in our winters from mild one year to severe the next year. While the hydrangeas will grow like crazy and give you lots of great foliage, the buds will always burn in a normal zone 5 winter.

Planted in heavy shade. Too much shade can be a cause of non flowering simply because of the lack of energy from the sun. You will notice less flowers gradually as the years go on. Transplant to a sunnier location.

Severe dry spells the season before can and does cause the hydrange to not flower. This can be avoided by choosing a location that is not too sunny and by adding some sort of irrigation system

Use of a high Nitrogen fertilizer will promote lush new growth at the expense of flower production. Use a balanced (10-10-10) slow release, granular fertilizer & don't over do it.

Answer 2

My Grandmother would put fish heads and nails in the flower bed by her hydrangeas and they were really beautiful.I ask why and she said the 10 penny nails was what they crave.So fertilizer is needed.....Or buy some nails?

Answer 3

it might be as simple as just needing some fertilizer. try that and then look at gardening at the crossroads on the internet and that should be able to help you good luck and happy gardening.