I’ve looked online for information on cutting hydrangeas, but I’m still not really sure what I should do. My plants are enormous, and I want to prune them back while preserving this summer’s blooms.
The type of hydrangea you have will determine how you prune it. While Hydrangea paniculata and Hydrangea arborescens produce flowers on growth from the current year, the traditional pompon variety (Hydrangea macrophylla) blooms on growth from the previous year, or what is known as old wood.
As they are the most common, let’s start with the traditional kind. Lacecaps and oakleaves are also a part of this category (H. quercifolia). These hydrangeas only need minor pruning. In fact, shrubs that have been incorrectly clipped may not blossom at all. By removing old flower heads and trimming back any dead wood to the ground level in late winter, you can tidy up the plant. Wait to prune until after the latest frost date if you reside in a location that has erratic springs with warm periods and cold snaps. Cut the faded blooms all the way back to the first set of leaves or leaf buds when pruning. It is a good idea to cut around 1/3 of the oldest stems from a mature shrub if the center has become crowded. While some of the summer’s blossoms may be lost as a result, the plant will be exposed to more light and blood flow, which will make it happier and healthier.
When the plant is shrunk, things become a little more challenging. You are given two choices. The plant can first be pruned back in late winter. The hydrangea won’t blossom until the following year as a result, but I feel that now is a much better time to prune because the shrub’s bones are easier to see. Simply remove about a third of the mature stems. Cut all the stems back to around 1 1/2 feet tall if the plant is entirely out of control. To prevent crowding, thin out the emerging shoots during the summer.
The second choice is to trim your traditional hydrangea as soon as the summer flowering period is through. The plant requires enough time for the new shoots to harden off before the first fall frost, so timing is crucial. For this kind of summer pruning, trim roughly a third off the undesirable height.
Because they bloom on young wood, pruning H. paniculata and H. arborescens is a considerably simpler task.
Popular H. paniculata cultivar “PeeGee” is available. Large cone-shaped, milky white blooms appear in the spring and fall before fading to a lovely coppery pink. PeeGee is sometimes cultivated as a tree or as what is known as a standard. The growth on this one stalk is weeping down from the top. Cut the stems back to two buds above the stem base in the late winter.
In my garden, I cultivate H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’ In the late summer, it blooms in enormous, white pompon-shaped blossoms. Both residents of cold and warm climates might consider “Annabelle.” It is more adaptable than H. macrophylla, which is only hardy to zone 5 and struggles in regions without a dormant season. I just pruned the plant back to various heights of 1 to 3 feet from the ground in late winter. The plant will be able to keep its unstructured shape thanks to this.
How do I prevent my hydrangeas from becoming so large?
Myers believes excessive trimming can be harmful, even though deadheading your hydrangeas can be beneficial for fresh growth. The energy held in the roots of “Annabelle” cultivars will all be used to produce above-ground growth, which is frequently insufficient to support the blooms, according to the author. The older stems can help sustain the new growth while a late winter 15 to 18 inch cutback will promote new development from the roots up.
Can hydrangeas be pruned to maintain their tiny size?
One of the hydrangeas that blooms on new growth is called Annabelle. However, if you extensively prune them, they will still bloom. If you prune them too much, the new growth that develops may be weak and bow when the flowers are in bloom.
How do I prune my hydrangeas? is the query I receive the most on GardenLine. The big-leaf hydrangeas, Hydrangea macrophylla, have a difficulty in that if you cut them back too much, they don’t bloom as much the next season because their flower buds develop in the previous summer. On old growth, the majority of the well-known blue mophead and blue, pink, or white lacecap hydrangeas produce blooms.
However, some hydrangeas do not bloom on second year growth, which furthers the uncertainty. Both the white-flowered ‘Annabelle’ and the extremely hardy Pee Gee hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora, bloom on fresh growth. Several kinds, including “Penny Mac,” “All Summer Beauty,” and “Endless Summer,” bloom on both fresh and old foliage.
Let’s first discuss why you should prune these bushes before moving on to how. Unfortunately, the most common motivation for pruning a plant is to reduce its size. You’re destined to lose unless you’re cultivating a shrub or tree in a bonsai dish.
Plants should typically only be clipped to enhance appearance rather than regulate size. I’ll say it again because it’s crucial: Hydrangeas should be clipped to enhance look rather than regulate size. The mature hydrangea shrub is an immovable object. A big leaf hydrangea will grow back the following season if you prune it one year. Replace your larger growing variety with one that is genetically engineered to stay short if you wish to keep them little. A few types are recommended later in this article.
Many lacecap hydrangeas flower on growth from the second year, thus they should be treated similarly to mopheads. For illustrated pruning instructions, download the pdf document found at the end of this post.
Pruning instructions for lace-caps, mopheads, and big leaf hydrangeas are as follows:
1. When the plant has started to emerge from dormancy in the spring, prune. You can tell which canes are alive and which are dead at this time of year.
2. Start by cutting all dead canes down to the ground and eliminating them. In order to avoid being tempted to leave unsightly, six-inch-tall stumps because you can’t reach to cut them any shorter, it is better to do this while seated close to the plant.
3. After removing all dead canes, assess what is left. If you still have a lot of surviving stems and some of them are older than three years, cut the oldest canes again at ground level and eliminate a third of them. New growth will be encouraged by this. Skip to step #4 if the plant is not overcrowded with numerous older stems.
4. Trim any remaining faded flowers to thin the plant. Working from the top down, trim the remaining canes back by stopping and making the cut just above the first or second pair of buds you reach. Some canes will be cut very little or not at all when using this top-down strategy, while others will only contain surviving buds close to the base of the plant, meaning you’ll be chopping off a significant portion of that stem.
5. After that, back up and inspect the plant. If there is a stem that is noticeably higher than the others, you can cut it to make it more in proportion with the others if you prefer the way it looks. Remove any curved, frail-appearing branches that trail on the ground.
6. Bear in mind that any green buds you remove could later on in the summer bloom. Do you like more flowers or a cleaner plant? Keep in mind that you may always cut those flowers to make bouquets, which would help the plant look better later in the year.
7. Prune Infinitely Summer and other large-leafed hydrangeas that similarly bloom on fresh growth. Cutting these plants short results in fewer flowers because they bloom on both new and old wood.
8. Do you want them to be small? Let it go. Plant “Mathilda Gutges,” which is my favorite hydrangea, as well as “Hortensis Compacta,” the diminutive “Pia,” and “Pink Elf.”
Hydrangeas like the one on the right, called “Mathilda Gutges,” are suitable for perennial gardens and foundation plantings because they don’t grow much higher than four feet. The hydrangea “Ami Pasquier” on the left can reach heights of over five feet and should be planted in an area where it will have room to develop.
‘Pee Gee’ hydrangeas can be pruned in a variety of ways. By pruning deadwood and one-third of the smaller lateral branches each year, some people help them grow into little trees. Remove these twigs, leaving just the larger, upright stems, and the plant will grow taller, resembling a miniature tree with many stems. Cut out any crossed branches or those that are growing toward the center of the plant rather than away from it after cutting the deadwood and those lower stems. Do this in the spring or late winter.
Pee Gee hydrangeas can also be pruned annually to a height of six inches to three feet. But because the top tends to grow thicker, the new stems that emerge will be dragged down by the weight of the blossoms. Pee Gee hydrangeas should generally be planted in areas where they have the potential to grow huge. Consider the diminutive oak leaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Pee Wee, if you want a white flowering shrub that stays small.
If Annabelle hydrangeas are pruned short, the stems will bend under the weight of the flowers since the fresh growth is weaker. These should be pruned similarly to mopheads, in my opinion.
Download this pdf of instructions with graphics to bring pruning knowledge into the garden. how to prune hydrangeas.pdf
How can I use hydrangeas that are too lanky?
With all varieties of hydrangea, it pays to grow a robust, bushy plant before you consider flowers. The first few years following planting are crucial for hydrangea trimming because they lay the groundwork for future years.
It is best to pinch or trim your plant when it is young in order to develop a robust, well-branched plant. A plant will produce twice as many branches and ultimately more flowers if the growth tip is removed.
If the plant was lanky when you bought it, hard-shear it back by a third to a half of its original size. Pinch the branch tips to remove only the growing tip once it has added one or two inches of growth. This point regulates branching. The buds beneath it will develop into two or more stems when it is removed. Pinch the tip out once again when these young branches have grown an inch or two.
As you take care of your garden, you can keep doing this all through the first growing season. This method produces a well-branched, full-bodied plant that will have more flowers in coming years, even if you may lose one year of bloom in the process.
Repeat the pinching procedure for the second growing season (or lightly shear). Stop trimming and pinching so that the flower buds can form.
What occurs if hydrangeas are planted too closely together?
The most often query we receive when building a hedge is, “How far apart should I space my hydrangeas? The answer to this question relies on a number of variables, including the type of hydrangea you’re using, your location, and the style you want to achieve. As a general rule of thumb, focus on the plant’s width first. For instance, Incrediball smooth hydrangeas (seen above) mature to a height and width of 5 feet. As a result, plants can be planted with their centers 5 feet apart such that they will almost touch as they mature.
You might want to think about planting them a little closer if you don’t want to have to wait too long for your hedge to fill up. Plants can grow to their maximum size over a number of years, and in colder climates, this process might take considerably longer. When they are planted closer together, individual plants will eventually touch and overlap. The end product is a beautiful wall of blooms and greenery that is difficult to resist!
Although it may be tempting, be careful not to plant them too closely together. As a result of the restricted airflow caused by their near proximity, disease is more common. Maintain a sufficient distance between plants to allow for airflow and healthy plants (and happy gardeners). On every one of our plant pages, under the “additional information” heading in the “how to grow” tab, are spacing suggestions. You can put Incrediball hydrangeas 3 feet apart if you choose. However, it is recommended that they be planted 3-5 feet apart.
Depending on the plant spacing, you’ll need a certain number of plants for your hedge. To estimate how many plants you need for your area, try using our plant calculator!
My hydrangea is enormous; why?
“My hydrangea is too huge,” our clients often complain.
How do I cut it back? It’s crucial to know what kind of hydrangeas our clients have before we can respond to such an inquiry. Are those mopheads (Hydrangea macrophylla or H. serrata) or blue lace caps? Or do they cultivate hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens) in pink or white, like Annabelle or Incibelle Spirit? Maybe our clients are cultivating native oakleaf or white panicle hydrangeas (H. paniculata) (Hydrangea quercifolia). Knowing which type of these plants is being produced is crucial since they all respond to trimming in various ways.
It’s important to note this before we get into the details and the crucial photos: attempting to limit a plant’s size through trimming is typically foolish. The plant’s genetics, which dictate its height, width, and shape, are the first thing you’re fighting. Second, trimming consistently promotes growth. Therefore, if you heavily prune a plant, it may appear that you are making it smaller, but the plant will immediately strive to make up for the lost growth. The best course of action would therefore be to transfer a hydrangea and plant a smaller type in its place if it is too big for the area where it has been growing.
In addition, no matter when you trim back a blue lacecap or mophead, they will not only grow back to their previous height in just one summer, but you won’t get many flowers the next season.
The smooth hydrangeas, like Annabelle, Incrediball, or Invinceabelle Spirit, will continue to bloom even after being trimmed back, but frequent pruning causes the stems to become weaker and more likely to bend over, spilling the blooms to the ground. Once more, if these plants are too big for where they are, move them and replace them with a Wee White or Mini-Mauvette instead because they will stay smaller.
Hydrangeas with a panicle shape, such Lime Light, Pinky Winky, Fire Light, and others, can get fairly big. If they are hard pruned, they will still flower, but this frequently leads to quick regrowth and larger flowers that drag the stems down. However, there are options to trying to shorten a plant. It’s frequently preferable to transform larger plants into little trees when using panicle hydrangeas.
Hydrangeas of the panicle kind like Bobo, Little Quick Fire, and Fire Light Tidbit remain shorter in height. A medium-sized shrub, little lime (around 5 to 6 feet tall and wide).
Any Hydrangeas that are out of place can be easily moved in the fall. Early September is the best time to dig them, then sow the seeds where they can grow to the size that their genes indicate. Once the plants have been relocated, the only pruning required is to take off dead wood and crossed or rubbing branches on the other kinds and remove dead canes from the mopheads and lacecaps. When a plant is developing properly, you can prune it to make it seem better and stop attempting to control how big the shrub gets.