This years Endless Summer blue flowers are not impressive.
Finally 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.
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.
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.
My blue hydrangea bush is blooming and I want to share my pictures.
I went away on a little vacation a couple of weeks ago and when I returned, I found that my gardens were producing some flowers! And my Endless Summer, blue hydrangea had little flowers.
I’m always eager to see the color of the hydrangea flowers, and I had only grown them for one year previously, so I hoped they would be that same pretty blue. And they are! The bloom in my picture here is so lovely. I will be using it for some new stationery at my BlueHyd store.
In the mean time, I am taking the best photos and making posters to sell at the Zazzle store. I’ve enlarged the images so they will look fine as large size prints. Just need to get them made.
When buying a blue hydrangea be sure your soil is acidic enough to keep it flowering blue.
Spring is coming, and if you are already dreaming of shopping for a great landscape perennial, a beautiful addition to any garden includes the bright blue flowers of the Mophead hydrangeas. Often hydrangeas are at nurseries by the bucket load in spring, just in time for Mother’s Day.
Hydrangeas bloom in July and beyond (in northern climates), so that means most likely they will not have open blooms in May. You’ll have to trust the tag for the information as to the type and color of the flower.
Macrophylla Varieties Have Color-changing Flowers
The trouble with trying to buy a blue hydrangea is that even if it is blue in it’s container it may change color in the ground.
Sometimes you’ll see both pink and blue flowers on the same bush (photo credit: Pixabay)
All blue flowering hydrangeas are of the macrophylla variety, sometimes called the mopheads. You’ve no doubt heard of the Nikko Blue and Endless Summer which can have blue flowers. They are sold as blue-flowering, but if your soil is not acidic enough, the flowers will be more pink.
Potted plants are grown in special soil which is more controlled as to it’s alkaline and acidity levels. Yard dirt can vary widely in acidity. In New England the soil tends to be acidic, so my blue hydrangeas truly bloomed blue.
Macrophylla Flowers Are Round, Paniculata Flowers Are Elongated
The flower color change can only happen with the macrophylla variety hydrangeas. The paniculatas – like my Pinky Winky – do not change color no matter what type of soil they grow in.
To guarantee a blue flowering shrub, first test your soil. Buy a do-it-yourself test kit to find out if your soil has the right acidity to create blue blooms. A pH below 6 means you should have blue flowers. If it’s above 6, plan on pink ones.
If your soil is too alkaline to grow blue flowering hydrangeas, consider growing them in a big pot where you can control the soil’s pH and get the color you want. This is tougher to do in the ground.
What to Add to Soil to Make it More Acidic
To get blue flowering hydrangeas a soil acidifier must be added to the ground. Something organic (I am an organic gardener) can be purchased. Carefully follow the directions, and add as often as the package recommends. Additions to the ground will not last. Rain will wash away the changes, so it must be done consistently.
Other natural ways to create acidic soil may not be enough to create blue flowers all the time, but you can try watering the plant with something acidic mixed with water. I used to pour pickle juice on my gardenia plants. Vinegar in water is another choice. I’ve never done this to my hydrangeas, so you may want to look into it more.
Lime lowers Ph (you want a lower Ph for blue flowers) and Sulfer raises Ph.
Finally 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.
Hydrangeas Blue 