The End Is Here For Endless Summer Hydrangeas

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Endless Summer indeed…until winter blows in!

As autumn leaves were turning, while October wound down and nodded into November, more and more people got in touch to tell me that their hydrangeas were starting to bloom!

Not the old-fashioned big-leaf hydrangeas which only bloom on old wood and had their buds zapped last winter. But, the newer cultivars such as the popular 'Endless Summer' variety so many people have planted in recent years.

Because these newer cultivars can bloom on buds they made this summer, their pink puffballs, or blue blooms (depending on your soil situation), finally started showing up this fall, decorating green leafy shrubs with flowers much later in the year than they would normally appear.

On my own patio two weeks ago, my 'Endless Summer' was suddenly sporting three beautiful blue blooms in the warm November sunshine. Two days later, temperatures plummeted and those flowers shriveled up and turned brown. WAH-WAH.

You can see my pretty /sad 'before and after' pictures here. Say goodbye to summer for now.