Hydrangeas not blooming - Ask Extension
Hi, for the past 2-3 years my hydrangeas have not bloomed with flowers. They get the big, green leaves but no flowers. Prior to this for several years...
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Hydrangeas not blooming #934127
Asked June 04, 2026, 8:09 AM EDT
Hi, for the past 2-3 years my hydrangeas have not bloomed with flowers. They get the big, green leaves but no flowers. Prior to this for several years they were big with lots of flowers. I didn’t do anything special for them to thrive.
Anne Arundel County Maryland
Expert Response
Hi Tonya. It's funny I should get assigned your question, because I've had the exact same problem with my hydrangeas. Unfortunately I don't have a simple answer for you.
Your plants look quite healthy, and I see no evidence of black tips caused by our late frost this winter (which was a problem many gardeners in our area experienced).
What are your pruning practices? My guess is that your plants are a type of hydrangea macrophylla, which bloom on old wood. Accordingly, you should not cut the plants back in the fall and instead leave the stalks where they are and allow new growth, including flower buds, to develop on them in the spring. Here is more info from Penn State Extension, https://extension.psu.edu/why-doesnt-my-hydrangea-bloom. If you have been pruning in the fall, don't prune them at all this season and perhaps they will rebloom next year.
Another possible suspect is deer--do you have them in your yard? If so, look for branches wih the tips cut off--a sign that the deer are nibbling the flower buds. If you see that, try spraying the plants with deer repellent.
Were your plants originally purchased in pots, e.g. at Easter time? If so, those plants are forced to bud early and often are not winter hardy. Your plants look pretty large so, even if you did get them from pots, they seem to have survived the transition to the ground. But it's possible that their poor genetic background is finally revealing itself.
If none of the above steps help, I can offer a few final thoughts.
First, try transplanting some of the plants to a new location, adding compost (not fertilizer--excessive nitrogen will inhibit flowering) to the planting hole. Perhaps the change of location and new growing medium will jump start flowering. (This is what I have done, and a few of my plants have set a very modest amount of flowers. The real test, however, will be next year after they've had a year to get established.)
Second, simply enjoy them as plants with attractive foliage. I realize that you wanted flowers, but your hydrangeas are not out of scale with the other green foundation plants you have, so they can be value even without flowers.
Finally, you could replace them, ideally with a native variety. Here is info on our native smooth hydrangea, https://extension.umd.edu/resource/smooth-hydrangea/ That article also references at Mt. Cuba study of native species which bloom on new wood, and which thus can be pruned in the fall and early spring.
Best of luck with your plants.
Bob
Your plants look quite healthy, and I see no evidence of black tips caused by our late frost this winter (which was a problem many gardeners in our area experienced).
What are your pruning practices? My guess is that your plants are a type of hydrangea macrophylla, which bloom on old wood. Accordingly, you should not cut the plants back in the fall and instead leave the stalks where they are and allow new growth, including flower buds, to develop on them in the spring. Here is more info from Penn State Extension, https://extension.psu.edu/why-doesnt-my-hydrangea-bloom. If you have been pruning in the fall, don't prune them at all this season and perhaps they will rebloom next year.
Another possible suspect is deer--do you have them in your yard? If so, look for branches wih the tips cut off--a sign that the deer are nibbling the flower buds. If you see that, try spraying the plants with deer repellent.
Were your plants originally purchased in pots, e.g. at Easter time? If so, those plants are forced to bud early and often are not winter hardy. Your plants look pretty large so, even if you did get them from pots, they seem to have survived the transition to the ground. But it's possible that their poor genetic background is finally revealing itself.
If none of the above steps help, I can offer a few final thoughts.
First, try transplanting some of the plants to a new location, adding compost (not fertilizer--excessive nitrogen will inhibit flowering) to the planting hole. Perhaps the change of location and new growing medium will jump start flowering. (This is what I have done, and a few of my plants have set a very modest amount of flowers. The real test, however, will be next year after they've had a year to get established.)
Second, simply enjoy them as plants with attractive foliage. I realize that you wanted flowers, but your hydrangeas are not out of scale with the other green foundation plants you have, so they can be value even without flowers.
Finally, you could replace them, ideally with a native variety. Here is info on our native smooth hydrangea, https://extension.umd.edu/resource/smooth-hydrangea/ That article also references at Mt. Cuba study of native species which bloom on new wood, and which thus can be pruned in the fall and early spring.
Best of luck with your plants.
Bob
