Why won't this Hebe flower?

Hi, I planted this Hebe about 8 years ago and in all that time it only produced 3 or 4 flowers one year. It gets full sun for about half the day, it is planted in poor, well drained, slightly acid soil and I have tried feeding it with tomato food thinking the extra potassium might help it to flower. I'm thinking of getting rid of it this year and planting lavender there instead. Am I doing anything wrong or are some shrubs poor at flowering no matter how they are looked after?

 

It might be one of the kinds that's grown more for the foliage.

 

I bought it online and the picture showed one smothered with flowers.

 

That’s a foliage hebe , I think it has tiny white flowers but it’s leaves are the main interest

 

Thanks, disappointing though because I think I bought it from an Amazon seller and the picture showed it smothered with flowers, I think they even called it 'snowball' if I recall correctly. Oh well, it looks like I'm going to ditch it as I only plant things that are good for bees and butterflies. What variety of Hebe would be good for flowers? Looking for a hardy small leaved variety with white flowers.

 

I've just checked my Amazon orders and it was listed as Hebe Sub Alpina

 

Hi

my friend in my close has them in her front garden , and the bees do love the flowers. So worth keeping .. plus it creates a dense green mound which mustbe good for other wildlife

 

I've never seen a bee on it. I do wonder if it's a different variety from the one described? SubAlpina suggests it shouldn't grow very large, but I had to cut it back hard a couple of years ago because it was getting too big.

 

My friends is roughly 60cm , up to you if you want to keep or not …

 

I might try moving it to a part of the garden that gets sun all day.

 

OK, I've moved it to a spot that gets full sun most of the day. I'll probably give it another couple of years, if it still won't flower it's headed for the green bin

 

As others have said, they don't flower much. A very short window of flowering. Grown mainly for its foliage. The larger leaf ones tend to flower a bit longer but again, they don't flower for long.

 

Hebe subalpina is another name for Hebe rakaiensis which is a poor/erratic flowerer. It’s usually used for the foliage and because it naturally forms a relatively neat domed shape without any clipping. I’m not familiar with Snowball but knowing the basic rakaiensis as well as I do, I would be unsure how well any cultivars would flower

So it’s not you, it’s the shrub and poor product description by yet another Amazon seller

 

OK thanks, I've moved it to a sunnier position and fed it with high potash tomato feed. I've give it another couple of years if it still doesn't flower it's headed for the green bin