Summer Endless or Endless Summer, either way, we’re talking Hydrangea. Proven Winner’s “Endless Summer” Hydrangea.
Endless Summer Hydrangea
These guys entered the market, taking on the “Bloom Once, and flop over like a dead bird” Hydrangea’s, and not surprisngly, they did well. Let’s state it right here, these Hydrangea’s dont flop over like day old bread, and they bloom “endlessly” all summer!
Where to Buy “Endless Summer” Hydrangea’s?
Monrovia sells excellent plants. They carry the Endless Summer / Summer Endless variety, even some of the newer varieties like “Blushing Bride”. You can purchase them from here.
Michael Dirr's book on "Endless Summer" Hydrangea
Reference Material
The most amazing book on Hydrangea’s has to be Michael Dirr’s book on Hydrangeas. First he travels the Earth researching various varieties. Then he writes a 200 page book on the different qualities and aspects of Hydrangeas. The photos are gorgeous, but the info in the book is even more amazing. His love of Hydrangeas comes out on every page, and makes the reader feel the same. Well worth the $20 odd dollars it costs.
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Initial Purchase
I planted 3 Endless Summer Hydrangeas last summer. Unfortunately, making the mistake of paying $5 at Walmart, to buy the half-dead, dehydrated sale plants. They were browning and struggling. I picked them up anyway, thinking I could save them. Surprisingly, they responded to the water and care, and gave me some nice blooms. You can see in the attached photo that they were giving blooms the first year…even when treated badly.
After the first Year
Winter came, (and mind you, we had the mildest winter on record ever in Ontario) and come Spring, 1 Endless Summer was just dead, the other 2 put up very small buds, and wouldn’t grow. Rumor had it that the constant thaw / freeze caused excessive ice formation in the soil, killing the plants. You can see in the photos the tiny buds that indicate some life. But they were struggling
After 10 weeks into summer, I gave up on plant#2 and pulled it out. This time, I went to an actual Nursery and paid good money for some nice varieties that were blooming and growing well. The third plant lingered as a small bloom, but then finally, in July, it started to grow and bloom. You can see it in the photos below, it is the pink plant.
Conclusion
In the end, I’m happy with these plants. They grow well, bloom right away and look great. The Endless Summer variety are extra hardy and blooming, so I always look for these. And their awesome colors are, well, awesome.
I really enjoyed reading your experience of how you bought a dying plant and reviving it all the way from winter to summer.
Truly exciting to see all the many blooms.
BTW, I drop by from Blotanical and found your lovely blog on gardening.