All of this does not, however, guarantee that your beds, pathways, and trellises will be taken over by hydrangeas. A clever gardener may incorporate these profusely flowering shrubs into a well-planned garden using a variety of techniques.
: Choose the Right Variety
Before you get your plant home from the nursery is the optimum time to start managing its size. Look for a variety that will fit in the area of your garden that needs to be filled, even after it has grown to maturity. Not all hydrangea varieties grow into towering hedges. Even in their best growth environments, many dwarf cultivars maintain their modest size while producing lovely blooms.
If you want something compact, think about one of these Hydrangeas:
Small Quickfire This panicle hydrangea blooms early and has fluffy-looking white flower cones that mature to soft reds and purples. Its mature height will be between three and five feet.
Penny Mini. The Mini Penny, a diminutive variation of the popular Mophead Hydrangea, grows to a maximum height of three to four feet while producing the same abundant, vibrant flower clusters as its larger relatives. You’ll get blossoms in both the spring and summer because it blooms on both new and old wood.
Small Lime. The blooms of this additional panicle type, a little variation of the well-known Limelight Hydrangea, start out green in the summer and turn pinkish-red in the fall.
Time to dance. These tough Lacecap Hydrangeas keep their size to a manageable two to three feet. However, they produce enormous pink or tiny blue petals, making them flower powerhouses.
PEEE WEE This tiny version is worthwhile to look at if you enjoy the beautiful white blooms and the crimson fall foliage of Oakleaf Hydrangeas. When fully grown, it is about four feet tall and three feet wide.
: Give Them Plenty of Sun
Hydrangeas want to welcome the sun every morning, just like your yoga instructor. Early morning sunlight is ideal for them; if you set them in an area that is too shaded, they may reach higher in an effort to catch those priceless rays.
Avoid going overboard, but the optimum location is typically one that receives some shade during the warmest part of the day.
: Don’t Over-Fertilize
You probably use some kind of fertilizer on your hydrangeas, whether you think chemical can improve gardening or you’re a compost-only kind of person.
However, if your bushes are outgrowing their capacity, cutting back on their food is a quick and easy solution to get them to back off. In fact, it’s almost always preferable to use too little fertilizer than not enough. A single application of a controlled-release fertilizer in the springtime should be adequate.
: Grow Hydrangeas in Containers
Hydrangeas are voracious growers, but if their roots are confined by ceramic or stone, they can only grow so far. You can prevent them from spreading too far by growing them in a pot. Of course, the correct container can also stand alone as a chic accent to your yard.
Non-dwarf hydrangeas can be grown in containers, but pruning may still be necessary. In order to prevent the soil from drying up too quickly after watering, you should still choose a pot that is a good size, measuring at least 18 to 20 inches around.
Hydrangeas can they be kept small?
Few gardeners will be without miniature hydrangea varieties because they can grow in USDA plant hardiness zones 3 through 9. For gardeners with limited area, planting miniature hydrangeas in the landscape is a wonderful way to still enjoy these lovely plants.
When a hydrangea becomes too large, what should you do?
Your hydrangea has outgrown its space. It is expanding into the walkway or climbing up the windows. Your hydrangea is either blocking the driveway or covering surrounding shrubs. How can I prune this to reduce its size once more? You query.
That is the straightforward response. It is unwise to try to change a plant’s genetic makeup because plants grow to be the size and shape that their genes demand, especially if the plants have already gotten too tall. The blue flowering mop head and lace cap hydrangeas that we Cape Codders adore can also produce far fewer flowers if you cut them back, in addition to replacing and possibly surpassing their previous height in one season. Here is an image to demonstrate:
This Nikko Blue Hydrangea was cut back in half either in the spring or the fall. See how it is once more eight feet in circumference and a good six feet tall in July? And take note of how few flowers are present, as well as the fact that a green leafy dome covers the top. This is a telltale sign that a Hydrangea macrophylla has been clipped to “clean it up” or “bring it under control.”
White flowering hydrangeas, like Annabelle or any of the panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata), flower on new growth, so even if they are severely pruned, they will still produce flowers. But remember this universal truth: trimming always promotes development. A shrub will attempt to replenish what it has lost more quickly the more pruning it receives.
This is a peegee (or PG) hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’. On this specific plant, the canes were reduced by half in the spring, and when this photo was taken in late August, they were exactly the same length as the previous year. The weighty blossoms bent those lengthy canes to the ground whenever it rained because they were now new growth. Hard pruning promotes fast growth, but weaker growth, and plants typically become more floppy a year or two after such pruning. When this plant got too tall and wide in the past, people would cut it from the bottom up, converting it into a little tree. In order to make what appears to be a little tree with multiple stems, the lowest limbs of the original “hydrangea trees” were cut off where they connected to the trunk.
If your hydrangea is too wide for the area, you can divide the plant, move it back away from paths and driveways, or dig it up and divide the plant. If only a few stems are protruding into walkways, cut them off by following them to the ground or to the point where they meet another stem. The plant will sprout new growth, but the passages will be clear only briefly. Move hydrangeas that are growing over windows to a different site so they can expand to their genetic potential.
So how can a hydrangea be kept out of the sidewalk, beneath the windows, or short enough to look over? There, grow a short variety of plant. Numerous hydrangea varieties with reduced growth rates are introduced every year. For instance, the majority of the shrubs in the Seaside Serenade line of Monrovia hydrangeas seldom grow higher than 4 feet. (Country Garden currently has a number of that series in stock.) The Cityline series, Let’s Dance Diva, H. paniculata Bobo, and Little Quickfire are more hydrangeas that maintain a reduced height.
These Forever and Ever hydrangeas were not clipped to be below the windows; rather, they barely reach a height of four feet. There’s no need to argue or assume that they are doing inappropriately.
A stunning short hydrangea with MASSIVE lacecap flowers is called Let’s Dance Diva. These flowers are all the size of a dinner plate!
Cityline Rio is the hydrangea in the foreground. It just gets a little wider and taller, between two and three feet. Look at those deep blue blossoms, too! (Cityline Venice is the pinkish-purple shrub to its right. Mathilda Gutges is the taller blue individual behind Venice. Forever and Ever Red and Forever and Ever Blue Heaven are the pink and purple behind that one. A Hydrangea arborescens ‘Grandiflora’ is the white plant to the left of the tree.
This compact Hydrangea paniculata is distinguished by its dark pink blossoms. This shrub, known as Little Quickfire, has a height and width of three to four feet.
Admitting that we are not in complete control and that a plant isn’t “out of control merely because it’s gotten bigger” is one of the problems of being a home landscaper or gardener. It could have been planted in the wrong spot or nobody could have predicted how big it would get. In any event, trying to reduce it to a smaller size by cutting it back is not the solution. Numerous gorgeous, shorter Hydrangeas in every color are readily available. Let us assist you in locating one that requires no controlling at all.
Are you able to mold a hydrangea bush?
In the late winter, early spring, or just above a big bud known as a heading cut, trim back stems. The flower heads of these plants have a conical form. I wait to prune these until late winter or spring because I advise leaving the dried, tan flower heads on the plant to add some winter beauty to your garden. Favorite panicle hydrangeas include:
- H. paniculata ‘Bulk’ PP16, 812, Quick Fire
- (H. paniculata ‘Limelight’)
- Berry White (H. paniculata ‘Renba’ PP28, 509) first editions
If chopped, will a hydrangea grow back?
If you have hydrangeas like panicle and smooth hydrangeas, which set bloom buds on current season wood, you can be more liberal about pruning. Winter or fall are the optimum times to prune them. Even if you trim canes to the ground when the bushes are dormant, they will grow back and flower in the spring. However, cutting stems all the way to the ground over time weakens them, so you might need to stake the plants to keep them standing. This severe trimming could eventually make the plant grow back weaker.