Question
I think I mentioned that I used to be a volunteer on the gardening board. Given so many of the questions were along the lines of "why have my tulips not bloomed" and "how do I get blue hydrangeas", I too welcomed more challenging questions.

As it relates to the hydrangea paniculata,I have many different varieties from many different sources. Only one is a standard. The Tarvida however, were bargains from Home Depot. I am more inclined to think there is something within the soil or my care that is causing the problem becasue it' seems to be impacting the entire species.

One of my theories is that we have a terrific drought last summer and we all know that drought can have long term effects. Maybe this is one of them. Or maybe I over watered to compensate.

Gardenig was certainly easier when we lived in NJ. In any event, I am grateful for any theories you can propose.




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Followup To

Question -
First off, thank you for your quick response to my previous question about Japanese Tree Lilac.

My new dilema is about Hydrangea Paniculata. You name the variety, I have it. Tarvida, one of the more common, is the last to bloom, usually in mid-late September here. This year, it decided to bloom in June, millions of teeny-tiny flowers. I let one shrub flower like this and pinched back another to see what would happen.

Any idea what might cause flowers 3 months before their norm and why so tiny, instead of the magnificent blooms the variety is known for.

It's always something. I hope your gardens are doing OK with all the rain you have had.

Answer -
This is quite interesting.  I have not come across this problem ... ever.

I have a theory that might explain it but I have also contacted a university professor for a confirmation or alternate theories.  I do not grow H. paniculata here -- one cannot grow everything in the world unfortunately.  But it is an easy, lovely shrub and I can't tell you what an intriguing question this is.

First, I do not think this is a problem we would have on Long Island, for reasons I explain next.  But I mention this by way of emphasizing that this is a theory of the Long Island Gardener -- and it is possible someone closer to Chicago, at least, might have a more accurate explanation.  Who knows, maybe this is something many of Illinois's H.paniculata growers are asking themselves this year?

And so here goes my theory.

You are cultivating what I understand to be the most hardy of Hydrangeas.  Growers declare it to be hardy all the way to Zone 3.  The only way a winter could be colder would be if you lived in Northern Canada or the most insanely frigid parts of Montana.  This is a tough plant.  It blooms, for most people, in late summer on new wood.

But you seem to be suddenly observing non-Tarvida blooms, in a bloom cycle alien to Tarvida or even paniculata.  It appears almost as if there is a root-stock phenomenon going here, much as you would commonly find with a Tea Rose or Lilacs, with actively growing and blooming root stock under the graft union. For a good description of Grafting techniques, please see the Grafting section of the Wikipedia link (www.bookterra.com/index.php/Gardening:Plants).  These graftings are the source of the gardening headache called Suckers.  But those Suckers often bloom -- just not the way we are used to.

Grafting would have been an unusual practice a decade ago with a Hydrangea.  But in recent years, with real estate being more costly, interest in compact specimens that will not overpower a yard is strong.

Enter the Tree Hydrangea.

Shrubs trained to a single straight stem, to grow like a tree, are selling like hotcakes in some parts of the country.  To make them, growers graft popular shrubs onto 2- to 6-foot standard rootstocks and stems, basically gluing one on top of the other -- the top for the pretty flowers, the bottom for the tough roots.  

I want to point out that this is usually done to create standards - tree-form plants, which are so popular now.  It is possible that particular new hybrids are in such demand, and short supply, that nurseries are achieving this by fast-forwarding certain specimens with this very common propogation technique.  Instead of keeping up with the tree-form, in this case, they are trying to multiply their Tarvida supplies.

Back at the ranch, the new shrub would have be pruned for the first few years of new understock growth.  But in your case, maybe the strong, aggressive rootstock -- a different hybrid from your Tarvida -- is still begging for another chance.

I would watch to see if your Hydrangea still blooms as scheduled, with the habits you have observed since you first planted it and watched it bloom.  In the meantime, I am waiting to see whether a real authority on this genus can elaborate, or dismiss this theory altogether.  I'll let you know what I hear.

Thank you for a most interesting question.

Answer
What ever are we doing indoors on our computers on a beautiful summer day like today, Lynn?

I don't think you mentioned your previous work down here -- but your approach did sound a cut above the usual "why are my tulips not blooming in July?" questions I sometimes hear.

I understand your reasoning about the weather.  If we were talking Roses here, the cold as you probably know would zap the flowering stock and the root stock would be left to fluorish, new flowers, new growth habit, Dr. Huey is in.

Hydrangeas are commonly (now) grafted for quick, cheap (because time is money), foolproof, proven propagation of standards.  But they could easily be taken to the next level, seizing the opportunity to sell new, outstanding hybrids by quickly propogating them onto older, strong roots.  Even though H. paniculata is already a strong plant, the Tarvida hybrid is not all-over-the-place available.  And so the more I think of it, grafting is not really so farfetched.

If I had no theory that I felt comfortable with, and no one to ask, I would simply put the cursor in the little round dot and click "I am not qualified to answer this" (which I FREQUENTLY do) or the other one which I have never used that says "Sorry, This is too complicated".  But this is a fascinating question and I would like to be the Deep Throat who answers it correctly.  I am quite certain I am the only one who would not make up an answer.  Even to the point of saying "I KNOW they are grafting Tarvida onto peegee" which some people would say.  The other plain vanilla answer is to claim you don't know what you had, or what you're doing, which is clearly (to a real gardener) anything but the case!

So that's why I asked you to wait and see what happens in the fall.  My money's on more flowers, the kinds you saw last year, assuming it was not already pruned.

By the way, after grafting these standards, it is often a problem that the graft does not last and the standard fails.  Home Depot, in a rush to pour new hybrids all over the market and build sales, would be just the partner to purchase thousands of grafted new Tarvidas ready for sale in 1-gallon containers.  We'll just have to wait and see.  I promise to let you know if I hear anything at all, including a "That's Impossible," or a "I have no clue."

I personally can't wait.  I'll definitely be learning something here.

Now where's that iced coffee...