Hydrangea looking a bit sad

Hi All!
I wonder if anyone could shed any light on why my hydrangea is looking a bit miserable!? I bought it a few years ago and it had large pink flowers on it. It did quite well for a year or two and grew bigger but last year it had numerous but very small flower heads on it. I put it down to the fact I hadn’t fed it and we had an extremely dry summer. So this year I pruned the dead flower heads off in early spring (down to where the next shoot was appearing), gave it a good sprinkle of blood fish and bone and vowed to give it a good soaking during periods of dry weather (which I have). Initially it looked like all was well and there was an abundance of greenery and flower buds. But the flowers are again small and a bit pathetic (though numerous) and the plant hasn’t produced new green growth so it is still the same size. Also the leaves are a bit yellow and wilting as you can see. It’s in a north west facing corner so shade in morning, gets some full sun in the middle of the day, then shade, then full sun again from the West in the evening. Any help much appreciated!
Thanks!
Matt

 

Hello Matt

What’s your soil like? Is it dryish/ free draining? Despite your watering it looks very dry there and I think this is your problem. Hydrangeas like good, rich deep, moisture retentive soil and I wonder how much depth of soil you have there.

I would water thoroughly......make a sort of moat around it or build up soil to form a reservoir then water, let it soak away, water again.....repeat a few times. Then mulch thickly. Organic mulches are, for me, key in producing healthy plants

Seems to me you have done correctly with the aspect/positioning but soil is letting you down

 

Hi Verdun and thanks for the reply!
It’s quite thick heavy clay soil but it has been really dry here over the last few weeks (South Wales).

Something has just dawned on me as I read your post - there is quite a large willow tree about 3 or 4 metres away down that end of the garden.....I wonder if it’s sucking up all the moisture from the soil!?
Matt

 

Could well be Matt.
Water really well and mulch thickly....you could mix your own using chicken pellets/dried manure and mpc

 

Quick update already! This was great advice Verdun thank you - I have given it a thorough soaking this afternoon (considerably more than normal) and to my eyes it has definitely perked up. The pic shows it just now (it probably gets about an hour of evening full sunshine before being shaded again - has dappled sun on and off throughout the day).

One final question if I may: how do I encourage it to grow bigger? It hasn’t really changed much over the last couple of years or so. Should I be chopping some of these flowers off or wait till next season?

Thanks again!
Matt

 

Again Matt, it’s your soil I think. Too dry and too impoverished.
If you apply a good fertiliser....fish blood and bone, chicken manure etc., and apply a generous mulch it will help boost growth.
No cutting off the flowers will not really make much of a difference to growth.
Remove flowers next spring and again feed and mulch. A good soak now and then will make a difference