Category: Macrophylla Variety (Rounded Flowers)

Macrophylla varieties tend to have large, rounded flower heads.

Summer Blue Flowers on the Hydrangea

This years Endless Summer blue flowers are not impressive.

blue hydrangea flowerFinally I have a picture of my blue flowers on the Endless Summer hydrangea plant. It’s nothing too impressive I’m afraid. I don’t think my hydrangeas are getting enough sun to flower abundantly.

In fact, none of my hydrangeas in the front yard are producing many flowers. Usually by July I can see big flowers, as you can see in this post from July, 2013.

This summer – it’s July 12th now – I have two, very small, light blue flowers, one on each side of the plant, near the bottom.

blue flowering hydrangea plant
July 2015- Endless Summer Hydrangea

I believe that the problem is that I have two large burning bush trees in the front that shade my gardens. The Burning Bush is suppose to be a bush, but this house was neglected before I bought it, and the bushes were allowed to grow huge. Although I cut them back when I moved in, they have since gotten out of control once again. It’s difficult for me to contain the thick stems as they can’t be cut easily. I’m considering taking drastic measures and using the chainsaw to cut them down. The thing is, I don’t use a chainsaw.

The blue flowers are pretty, but small. Lack of blooms usually means there is not enough sun. We also had a bad winter which I think has affected my perennials adversely also.

On the other hand, my propagated transplants of the Blushing Bride hydrangea are looking beautiful. One has two flowers on it, and both have gotten really large.

My Blushing Bride White Hydrangea Transplant- One Year Later

Year 2 for the Blushing Bride hydrangea that was propagated in 2014.

baby hydrangea bush
New plant #1

Last year I dug up two offshoots of my Blushing Bride hydrangea. The shrub was becoming large, and as the limbs hung down to the dirt, they became rooted. After letting them grow this way for a year, I cut them off from the main plant and dug them up.

I ended up with two nice size little hydrangea plants. Both were planted in my backyard last spring and they are looking good this year.

One in particular is doing very well and has two flowers. I had named it #1, and it was samller than the #2 plant, but it’s doing better. I think it gets more sun than the other one, which helps with flower production. That is it in the first image, taken last year after it was just planted in June.

Below is how it looks in July this year – just one year later!

blushing bride hydrangea
Year 2 – new Blushing Bride

white hydrangea shrub

I’d love to transplant some new blue hydrangea bushes, but I can’t seem to get mine to grow enough to give me new baby plants. I’m also running low on space to plant perennials.

The blooms on my new plant are large and beautiful (picture below). In fact the original Blushing Bride plant has no blooms at all this year. The ‘baby’ looks better than it’s mom. It’s all in the location and sun exposure. Hydrangeas don’t need a lot of direct sunlight, but they do need a good measure to create flowers.

white hydrangea

5 Free Pictures of Blue Hydrangeas

Because my blog is mainly about hydrangea plants and flowers, I thought I’d bring to attention some pictures of blue hydrangea flowers that are free to use as you please. Download any size on the Pixabay site  (click on the image to view the page at their site) and use on your blog, website, stationery, and printables. These pictures can also be used commercially, with no need to give credit to the photographer, or site. Of course they would love it if you do.
I’ll also do other colors like green, pink and white. (Coming soon.)  In a few months I should have some photos of my own to add.
Here you go.   Click the image if you can use it yourself.   Continue reading “5 Free Pictures of Blue Hydrangeas”

The Endless Summer in Spring

hydrangea leaves in spring
Spring Growth on my Endless Summer Hydrangea
It’s May and while the black flies swarm and temperatures are on a roller coaster the hydrangeas in my yard are growing new leaves. My Endless Summer plant has lots of new growth. I’ve left the bare stems just in case something pops out along them. In general, I don’t prune this plant. It’s relatively small anyway so there is no need. I am not adding any new perennials to my yard this year, other than the ones I will propagate, but this is a good time to buy and plant hydrangeas in the landscape.

I added some bonemeal around the base and will eventually add new dirt too. Right now I am busy readying my vegetable gardens for planting – hopefully this weekend. Once the fabric pot raised beds have all the dirt they need, I will add what’s left to the flowers. My Pinky Winky and Limelight hydrangeas all look fine too. In a couple months I’ll see some flowers. Can’t wait!

Endless Summer Goes From Blue to Lavender, Pink or Green

Color changes in the hydrangea flower as the season progresses brings green, pink and blue blooms.

This page is about growing hydrangeas in my New England yard. The soil is naturally acidic and it is not difficult to grown blue flowering hydrangeas. However, as the season progresses, those blue flowers turn into pinks and greens and even unique blue colors.

lavender hydrangea flower
This flower went from blue to lavender

My beautiful blue Endless Summer hydrangea flower turned to light lavender as last season progressed. Sometimes the blues turn pink, or even green. It’s what makes growing hydrangeas so exciting, the fact that flowers will start out one color and turn to something completely different.

I love this gorgeous light purple flower. The newly planted shrub is not very large and last year it had only about 5 or 6 blooms. The heavy weight of the flowers on the smaller stems weighed them down, but each year the plant will do better.

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Endless Summer that has turned light green in Fall

Right now it’s too early to see much happening with my hydrangea bushes. I keep coming across pictures I took last summer and fall, so I’ll have to share those for the time being.

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A blue flower drying on the stem in Autumn turns all kinds of gorgeous colors

I won’t be buying any more new plants, as I am currently on a very tight budget, but I plan to propagate hydrangeas from the plants I already have.

Propagating from the endless summer and mop-head varieties is easy, but it takes time and some planning.  Some people start plants from cuttings, but I have not had luck with that.

Another flowering hydrangea in my yard is fun to watch. The Pink Winky has elongated flowers that turn from white to pink. It is a gorgeous bush.

Keep Reading

My newer blog posts are about gardening in my Florida backyard.

Bloomstruck is the New Purple Hydrangea For 2014

purple hydrangea flowers
Bloomstruck is Purple

There is a new Endless Summer hydrangea variety and it’s purple, or violet.  It’s called Bloomstruck. I’ve added a link to the name so you can see a picture of the actual plant. My photo here is of a blue bloom which I turned purple in my graphic program. But it looks similar to how the Bloomstruck variety may appear.

Endless Summer is a popular type of hydrangea to grow as it blooms profusely. It’s small enough in size to put the plant into a pot, or find a good space in the yard to plant hydrangeas to add lots of beautiful color. For most people the Endless Summer plant means blue flowers. I have a bush that is only two years old and it has amazingly pretty blue flowers in summer. I also have the Blushing Bride variety which is white. But these macrophylla plants have flower colors that will change according to the type of soil – it’s pH- used to grow them. And that includes this new Bloomstruck variety. It is shown as violet / purple, but the site also says that the flower color could be “rose-pink” or “blue”.

I don’t think I will be adding this one to my yard as I have run out of places to put perennials and I have enough hydrangeas at the moment. If you decide to try this one out I’d love to hear how you like it.