My hydrangea hell

[NewspaperTaxis]

Last year I bought and planted a hydrangea - it wasn't huge but it had the big blue flowers and I planted it with the hydrangea food you're supposed to, dug a bit hole for it with compost and so on.
Over the winter it sort of wilted and seemed to die. Then some green shoots appeared, so I pruned the dead twigs around it.
Now, this is all very well but I was sort of hoping for a big bushy hydrangea of the sort you see in many a front garden. I don't know how long it takes to get to that point but currently what I have - and I bought another because the first one seemed to fade away quick - is not bushy at all, more a Brazilian!
I suppose I can add those Grow liquid things to make it go faster but did I buy the wrong kind? Did I get mugged off?
Also attached is a feature on a recent local paper about hydrangeas, but even then I'm not sure it's clear how big some of them are. Honestly, I sometimes think gardening should be easier than this!

I’m a hydrangea novice too. The year before last I managed to kill one, so planted another last year and it doesn’t look much bushier than yours does. But it has new leaves and it survived winter so I’m happy just for that. I assumed I’d get nice flowers later in the year again and it would take a few years for it to get big.

They take their time to grow but once they do they shoot up. They like morning sun and to be shaded, where are your planted ?

Best not to prune necessarily time until you're sure those twigs are dead, mine looked awful last year, wasn't watered so wilted and looked like it wouldn't pull through but it's now got buds from the 'dead twigs' (they flower on last years growth so you probably won't get flowers this year).
Put those secateurs down!😉

'Next' time, not 'necessarily'

Breeders have spent years developing smaller hydrangeas so it's important that you have bought a variety that will grow to the size you want. Did you keep the label? It should tell you the height.

If you google how to grow and prune hydrangeas, you will find all the info you need.

I hate the things. They always die.
Very high maintenance.

It’s fine don’t worry. This is how we do them in the big country estates. Plant two rows, prune the back row right to the ground whilst the front row flowers. Let the back row flower year after and the front row grows neat little foliage mounds.

It’s a really good way to grow hydrangeas. They love it and thank you for it with bigger blooms.

Obviously you only have the one, and no space for rows. So next year google where to make the cutscenes it only flowers on last years growth so you take it back to the best set of strong paired buds.

I have the same issue but I haven't cut last years dead twigs. Will flowers really come from there? They still look pretty dead...

If you bought it when it was flowering out of season and planted it in autumn and it's no wonder it's not doing well. You have to buy it in the spring and planted in the spring when there are no flowers on it. It might take a while but as long as it's shaded enough it should be fine.

Mine has been in 3/4 years and is still tiny! I wonder if it's position is too sunny (shaded am, sunny all pm)

I love them! I keep buying them because I can just ignore them (apart from watering when it’s dry and hot) and they grow so fast and look beautiful.

Maybe it’s my soil

Hydrangeas need water, or at least not to be in blazing sun and dried out. last summer was tough on them. But once they get their feet down they can be pretty unstoppable. Yours does look as if it might be in a very sunny spot. Give it this year and see what it does.

I have a white one called Annabelle and it’s pretty unstoppable.

It takes a few years for them to get big. Make sure it’s in the shade and gets plenty of water.

the ones from supermarkets are seemingly designed to die.
they have been forced to flower when they were not mature enough plus their pots are way too small.

get yourself to a garden centre. look for plants that have good foliage and longer stems with plenty of buds.

they are very thirsty, you need to give them plenty of water in the first year or so. once established it's fine to only water during a dry spell.

feed only in spring with a rose/shrub feed.

What size pot were they when you bought them? They are pretty cheap to buy so I would go for a 1 or 2 litre one to start with which will give you impact. Pruning depends on the variety. Some flower on last years growth, others on new growth. Do you know which you have as your pruning may have scuppered flowering this year? Also worth noting as you mentioned it being blue, this will actually flower pink unless you have acidic soil. You can buy pellets to put around them to keep them flowering blue but most will eventually revert to pink. They like water (it's in the name) so keep them damp through the summer and leave flower heads on over winter.

Did you buy a mop head hydrangea rather than a bush variety? This would explain the “Brazilian” look possibly.

I have acid damp soil and hydrangeas are the one plant that does well. Lace cap, mop heads and paniculata all have different pruning techniques and feed them early spring. Too much feeding can stress out plants.

once you get the hang of them, they are easy.

They’re not high maintenance. I can only assume you’re trying to grow them in a position they don’t like

@MereDintofPandiculation
Probably. I moved them around alot though and they still struggled. Maybe it is just me.

Slightly acidic soil,north facing back garden,got mop heads,and climbing
They need huge amount of water. You can plant them in autumn
I was given a beautiful bright blue one, wedding anniversary present, I've kept in the pot,I don't want it changing colour. It's in full shade. The others are pruned now, just the old dead wood
I always hated them as well, funnily enough, I won a flower arranging competition with them. When we moved here,I looked at them closely,tiny individual colours.

They do like water... and a little shade.

Also you don't need to prune it back as the new shoots will appear on the dead looking twigs.
Mulch and feed it will be fine

Thanks everyone! I never saw them as high maintenance. So many front gardens in my area - Epsom Surrey - have them, my only dilemma was to have them be blue not pink and of course I bought the soil supplements to ensure this, and bought a blue one. It was from a garden centre and the second from Epsom market and was told by the former that though a patio plant it would grow outwards in due course, I don't know its actual name. Also, I never knew about pruning them - I've never seen the other ones locally getting pruned back.

I'm feeling a bit mugged off with my recent garden purchases!

My mum has an amazing mop head which must be forty years old now, it’s massive and would happily cover the garden.

It also seems to be bullet proof as she regularly hacks at it and it doesn’t mind in the slightest she also takes cuttings and they spring up and go mad in her garden. The minute they enter mine they just die. I thought I’d cracked it with last years (which i watered constantly last summer when it was baking) but it’s now just a stick 😠.

I see them thriving in other gardens being cheerfully ignored. Perhaps I look at it too much.

mine do well in my very shaded garden.....

As long as they're watered enough and don't get too much sun they're usually pretty bomb proof! There's one in my garden I've uprooted and moved three times because it wasn't quite it the right spot- it coped fine :) They look fairly dead in the winter normally, I tend not to cut mine back until the green shoots come back in the spring. It'll probably take a couple of years to get established though- if I want instant impact I tend to bite the bullet and buy a much bigger, more mature plant these days; think a 5-10 litre pot. Do you know which variety it is? Some of the modern ones can be pretty petite.