How to get hydrangeas to flower and bloom in your garden

Hydrangeas flowers in full bloom are one of the brightest and most beautiful plants you can have in your garden, but it can be disheartening for gardeners if they are not flowering in the summer.

However, any gardener having trouble getting hydrangeas to blossom should not feel disheartened, as one gardening expert has shared the ultimate guide to easily getting hydrangeas to flower.

Jessica Zander is a gardening coach who has been gardening for over 30 years and describes herself as being “like Mary Poppins but for your garden.”

She enjoys sharing her best garden methods on her TikTok account @youcandoitgardening and in a recent video she explained why hydrangeas might not bloom and her best solutions to try and get them flowering.

In her video, Jessica joked hydrangeas are “very high maintenance, they’re like divas” and said the solution is to try and adjust certain factors in your garden.

READ MORE Two plants that will ‘fail to bloom’ or face ‘stunted’ growth if pruned now

Jessica explained that the “easiest” factor to change is the fertilizer as hydrangea prefers acidic soil. Any fertiliser or plant food that has too much nitrogen in it may prevent flowering.

In the caption of her video, Jessica wrote: “Add fertilizer to add more acidity, like holly-tone, and to water more.”

Hydrangeas are also very peculiar about how much sunlight and shade they get a day, as Jessica said they will not flower if placed in the afternoon sun. Too much sunlight can cause hydrangea to wilt and not flower.

Jessica wrote: “If they aren’t too big you can also relocate them to a shadier area. If yours are in an area with not enough light then you may need to move to a sunnier area. My understanding is that they need at least three to four hours and that can be filtered."

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Pruning, which is the gardening method of removing spent leaves or flowers when they begin to fade to make way for fuller blooms, is also needed to keep hydrangeas. However, Jessica warned that gardeners need to know the best time to prune or deadhead hydrangeas.

She wrote: “For pruning: don’t touch these until late spring when you’re sure no new growth is going to come on the dead-looking stalks coming out of the ground. Then chop them back down to the ground.”

Another factor that may prevent hydrangeas from flowering is where they were bought. Jessica said: “If it was bought at a florist and is a florist hydrangea, nope that is not going to come back.”

However, Jessica also said that sometimes flowers just won’t flower and could “just be a dud.”

Hydrangea flowers are best planted in September, sometimes referred to as the “second summer” for gardeners as there are plenty of plants that thrive better in the cooler temperatures.

Any gardeners disappointed by their flower yield this year should begin planting hydrangeas now to ensure their roots are established to they will get many beautiful blooms in the upcoming June.

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