Another reason for no blooms is pruning at the wrong time. These plants really just need deadheading and shouldn't need any hard pruning. Even in early spring, leave the "dead" looking stems alone so that the plant can grow and bloom from the "old" wood. I have been really good at this so I know this isn't my problem.

Lastly is winter protection and late frosts. Even with the old wood not touched in the spring, it is exposed to elements and therefore the buds could have frozen preventing it from blooming. That coupled with my over fertilizing could be the problem. Although I am not sure what I am going to do about it as I don't want to go another summer with no blooms. Yes, I am impatient and like most of you I want a low maintenance garden.

Here is a link I found http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydra/msg0821023324059.html where others have wrapped their hydrangeas with Saran Wrap for the winter. I am not going to do that! Digging them up and giving them away may be another option for me. Any takers? I am curious to hear how your Endless Summers are doing? 

2) My hydrangeas are too big! This is a common problem with Limelight Hydrangea or Hydrangea paniculata. They take a few years to get going but once they do they can crowd out other plants. 

I really like them in the 5 foot range and tried to give them as much space as I could in your gardens. If you are finding them too big, now is NOT the time to cut them back. Please enjoy the blooms, trim them from the back to bring into the house but wait until March to do the heavy pruning needed to keep the size under control. If you feel that is too much work, you can relocate them to another sunny spot with more room and substitute your Limelight Hydrangea with Little Lime Hydrangea. Same great flower just only gets to 3 feet or so.

3) Floppy hydrangeas: This is common with the Annabelle Hydrangea, the white shade loving hydrangea. This tends to happen when the shrub is cut back all the way to the ground during your fall or spring clean up. I know many people say they do this to control the size but it is contributing to the problem. Every time the plant regrows on new stems, they are too weak to support the heavy blooms (seems odd, I know but that's Mother Nature for you). If you have been doing this or if you have a newly planted Annabelle Hydrangea, I have found it best to leave the shrub unpruned for a couple years to let the stems mature and thicken. Once it starts to need a bit of pruning, only prune one 3rd of the shrub, usually from the inside. The goal is that the older stems will continue to act as a support to the new stems. See close up of the brown (old) and green (new) stems:

4) Cutting hydrangeas to bring in the house. I love doing this and so do my girlfriends. They come by every fall to snip some from the back of my plants to take some home. One tip I have is only cut blooms that have been open on the plant for a while, I find the newly opened blooms wilt.

I have tried 2 methods; Cutting them, removing their leaves and then putting them in a vase with about an inch of water. They will slowly take up the water and then slowly dry up from stem to bloom. Or I have done the tried and true method of tying the stems together and hanging them upside down until they dry. Keep out of direct sunlight for both methods. See pictures below.

Cut Limelight Hydrangeas

Cut Annabelle Hydrangeas

Similar yet different!

Here are some Limelight I dried a couple of years ago.