Question
QUESTION: I have had a white hydrangea for about twelve years, it has flowered twice. I have moved it around the garden, still no luck. I have hard pruned it some years ago, still no luck. I do have pink/blue hydrangeas in the same plot. Should I take cuttings and disgard the main plant or what?

ANSWER: Hello John

Its odd that you have Hydrangeas flowering happily in the same area as the one that isn't performing!  The fact that it is twelve years old and has only flowered twice seems to point to there being a problem with this particular plant.

You could give it another year - don't be tempted to prune it this year and give it a good feed with a balanced liquid fertiliser next spring, then put a mulch of leaf mould or well rotted garden compost around the base to feed the plant over the summer and also to hold moisture in the ground around the roots - Hydrangea do like a lot of water!.

If it doesn't flower for you after all that, it may be time to call it a day and start again - with a new plant!

Gill

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Gill
Is it worth taking cuttings or will they be the same as the parent plant, non flowering?


Answer
Hello again John

When you take a cutting from a plant to grow into a new plant you are effectively creating a clone of the parent plant, so it will show all the same characteristics.

However... with nature you just never know!!  Give it a go, I say...

Gill