I have a .5 acre St. Augustine lawn and have been fertilizing with Lesco 5-15-10 with good results, but have never fertilized my shrubs/flower beds. Can I use this same fertilizer in the beds, or would something else be better? I have a pretty broad mix of ornamental trees/shrubs in the beds (hollies, jap maples, hydrangeas, sage, ligustrum, nandinas, hypericum, rose of sharon etc.). Any thoughts on what would be the best fertilizer for the beds? Any advice would be appreciated!

Are you sure that's number isn't 15-5-10?

I was hoping you would respond. You are correct, it's 15-5-10. Would that be good for the beds, or is there something else you would recommend?

That's not the fertilizer I would use in the beds. Not that it's a bad fertilizer. It's just the wrong N-P-K. Use a fert that has a higher middle number in the beds and for flowers. The middle # is phosphorus. That's what encourages blooming. I use Medina Hasta Gro liquid which is 6-12-6. I use it as a foliar spray and as a liquid drench. You can use a granular no problem. Just find one with a similar N-P-K.

How are your hydrangeas looking? That's about my only concern of the plants you have. We are right on the border of them doing good around here to not doing good at all with our soil Ph about 7. They prefer a little lower. I have about 10 and a couple are showing signs of iron deficiency since it's tough for them to extract iron out of our clay soil. I sprayed them down with Ferrous Sulfate Heptahydrate(sp) and sprinkled some around the plants to go into the soil and they are looking great now.

Thanks for the advice. We had all new beds put in in November and everything looks great. We have 2 types of hydrangeas (endless summer and oakleaf) and both are blooming/look good. Thanks again!

Wow, 15-5-10 sounds much better. And I think it would be fine for beds as the 1st number is Nitrogen and it leaches out far more than the phosphorus or potassium which tend to accumulate over time.