Throughout the summer, the enormous flower heads of hydrangea bushes (Hydrangea spp.) can cover a landscape with eye-catching flashes of blue, pink, or white. Most hydrangea cultivars, which are hardy in USDA zones 4 to 9, can survive a moderate winter without particular care, but they benefit from careful watering, pruning, fertilizing, mulching, and weathering over the chilly season for their spring growth and beauty. Winter doesn’t cover their stems, and if they aren’t clipped, old flower heads will turn brown.
Tip
If not removed, the dried and blackened flower heads of hydrangeas will stay that way all winter long. In the fall, hydrangeas likewise lose their leaves, but the brown stalks hold upright unless they are cut back.
Do I need to take any extra steps to protect a hydrangea if I’m growing it outside of its proper growing zone? Should I cover them in burlap or another kind of covering like I might with other shrubs?
Giving it an additional blanket for the winter is a good idea if you’re trying to grow something in a somewhat hardy environment. You’ll likely need one or two more layers than someone who usually experiences the cold when you get off the plane from Hawaii to Minnesota in January. Burlap does offer some nice protection for the shrub, but you might also want to consider enclosing the shrub in a metal cage and stuffing the cage with pine straw or leaves before wrapping it in burlap.
How often should hydrangeas be watered over winter?
You shouldn’t have to water plants all winter long if you live somewhere that gets snow. You might need to apply once per month or so if you live in a warmer area without snow and little winter rain. You can leave it unless it’s completely dry because the plants’ water requirements are small because they aren’t growing and have no leaves. The same is true of container-grown hydrangeas. Easy as pie.
First Editions ‘Vanilla Strawberry’ Hydrangea
A panicle hydrangea called “Vanilla Strawberry” blooms from midsummer until the end of the season with sweet-colored blossoms. Cut down or shape plants in the late winter or early spring before blooms appear. Vanilla Strawberry is a standard that can grow to a height of 6 feet.
Don’t give up on it in the winter and fall. This time of year, they are intended to shed their leaves. If there isn’t snow cover, make sure it keeps hydrated all winter. The plants still need some hydration at their roots even though they are dormant. Snow cover serves as a water source as well as insulation. Make sure you have enough rain or water to get them through if you live somewhere where it doesn’t snow or doesn’t receive snow. Additionally, make sure mulch, such as wood chips, oak leaves, pine straw, or another type, is placed over the hydrangea’s base. Snow or no snow, it provides the necessary insulation as well as some extra defense against hungry rats and rabbits in the winter.
When trimming other plants in the late winter, you might be tempted to prune hydrangeas as well, but McEnaney advises that you should first identify the type of hydrangea you have before using pruning shears.
Remember, he says, to offer a minor clip in the spring if you have a reblooming or mophead hydrangea.
Late winter is the time to prune down cone-shaped hydrangeas by a third to a half. Prune a cylindrical oakleaf variety after midsummer flowering if you have one.
When in doubt, McEnaney advises against pruning in the fall.
You run the risk of jeopardizing your flowers for the following year by cutting off blooms that grow in the fall. Simply be patient and wait until spring to prune after this season’s blooms have provided you with some winter appeal.
Ask for assistance from a nearby nursery, garden center, county extension office, or even another gardener to identify it if you are unsure of the variety.
According to him, too much fertilizer can be detrimental.
The element that promotes bloom production and gives you the most value for your money is phosphorus, so seek for a fertilizer with a high concentration of it when you’re at your neighborhood garden center. Follow the instructions on the fertilizer package and avoid overfertilizing to avoid burning the root system and preventing the development of flowers. If anything, one more application of fertilizer in the middle of the summer is beneficial, but make sure to cease fertilizing by early fall.
Should hydrangeas be pruned back during the winter?
If and when you prune is the key to happy, healthy hydrangea flowers. Of course, fertilizing and offering the ideal environment have a lot to recommend them. However, if you don’t prune properly, your efforts will be in vain. Deadheading is not the same as trimming. Pruning refers to more drastic cutting to preserve shape or remove dead growth. However, feel free to discard spent blossoms or cut fresh ones to use in arrangements.
Hydrangeas can bloom on either fresh wood or old wood, depending on the species. The wood from which they blossom determines whether and when to prune.
Old wood-blooming hydrangeas do not require pruning and benefit from it. They’ll blossom more abundantly the next season if you leave them alone. But feel free to deadhead or gently thin. Just keep in mind that while new growth may appear, it won’t bloom until the following season. In our region, four different species blossom on aged wood. Additionally, they are not limited to the hues displayed here.
Climb using suckers. On your wall or trellis, resist the desire to remove the dormant growth.
The flower heads are more conical in appearance, and the leaves are large and resemble oak leaves. It’s a pleasant surprise for a hydrangea when its leaves turn reddish-orange in the fall.
They are very comparable to lacecap types, but smaller and with more compact leaves.
Pruning should be done in late winter or early spring on hydrangeas that bloom on new wood. Trim back to two feet to prune to shape. The next season’s blossoms are produced by strong, fresh growth that is encouraged by trimming. In our region, there are two types that bloom on fresh wood. They are also not restricted to the colors displayed.
Oakleaf variants are not included in cone-shaped blooms. Keep the blooms on throughout the winter to provide interest; even dried out, they are quite lovely.
regarded as a wild kind. They often have smaller blooms and leaves than Bigleaf variants and are completely white. They enjoy full sun and can grow very tall.
Knowing whether or when to prune now will help you avoid the disappointment of a hydrangea that doesn’t blossom. Don’t forget that a robust shrub will produce more gorgeous blossoms if it has well-draining soil and good organic fertilizer. Come on in, and we’ll show you where to go to develop your green thumb.
How should hydrangeas be cared for in the winter?
Stakes can be used to create a frame around the plant to protect it throughout the winter. To create a cage, encircle the stakes with chicken wire. Pine needles and/or leaves should be stuffed inside the cage to completely insulate your plant.
Because they do not settle as quickly as other materials, oak leaves perform nicely. As the insulation settles during the winter, keep a bag of leaves from your fall leaf raking pile to fill the cage.
As you fill the cage, take care not to snap off the ends of the branches because if you do, it will all be for nothing and you won’t have those magnificent blossoms the next summer.
I planted two hydrangeas in the fall, and as winter arrived they appear to have died. They have bare limbs and are brown-looking. What did I do wrong? I live in Zone 9.
Since the majority of hydrangeas are deciduous, it is common for plants to lose their leaves from late fall to early January. The buds should begin to swell and leaf out as soon as the springtime days begin to warm up.
It’s crucial to prune your hydrangeas as part of proper hydrangea care. Although you did not specify which variety of hydrangea you planted, the majority of the oak-leaf (H. quercifolia) and large-leaf (H. macrophylla) varieties bloom on growth produced the previous season. To avoid removing the growing flower buds for the following year, these kinds should be trimmed as soon as they have done blooming. Both H. arborescens and H. paniculata bloom on recent growth. They can be trimmed to the ground each year without causing any harm, and late winter or very early spring are the optimum times to prune them. I advise against pruning the bare, brown limbs this year. Decide whether the hydrangeas are flowering on the fresh wood from this year or the old wood from last year by carefully observing them. You can use this to decide when and how to prune them.
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My hydrangea did it survive the winter?
It can be shocking to see a hydrangea transform from a champion flowerer into a bundle of hydrangea sticks. What course of action should you take when your specimen hydrangea (Hydrangea spp.) makes that depressing turn? Is it better to remove the old stalks now or wait until spring? Or do you entirely chop it down to the ground?
What if your hydrangea has genuinely passed away rather than just gone dormant? Your plant is most likely only dormant if you garden in the USDA hardiness zones 3 to 9, which are the zones where hydrangeas flourish. However, some kinds are not as cold hardy. Sadly, you might be seeing the last of this hydrangea.
Hydrangeas are deciduous shrubs that lose their leaves in the winter and go dormant. A hydrangea shrub has several, naked stalks of varied heights over the winter months unless you have cut it back before the cold weather sets in; it does not completely die to the ground.
Do hydrangeas bloom every year?
Hydrangeas will indeed reappear each year if they do not perish during the winter. Though not all gift hydrangeas are bred to grow especially winter-hardy. Thus, hydraneas occasionally do not endure the winter. However, most hydrangeas will reappear each year.
In the fall, how far back should hydrangeas be pruned?
The ‘Endless Summer’ cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla is an exception to the old wood pruning rule. On old and new wood, these hydrangeas bloom. On old wood, the season’s first blooms appear, while on new wood, late summer or fall blooms follow. At any moment, remove dead and damaged timber. After the last flush of blooms has finished flowering, trim the stems down by no more than one-third of their height to regulate the size and shape of this hydrangea.
Should I remove the brown blooms on my hydrangea?
Your hydrangea shrubs’ blossoms appear to be withering or turning brown. No need to worry—this is merely a signal that it’s time to deadhead—remove the blossoms from the plant.
Deadheading hydrangeas doesn’t cause any damage to the plants at all. Flowering shrubs stop producing seeds when the spent blooms are removed, and instead focus their efforts on developing their roots and leaves. You will be doing your hydrangeas a favor by deadheading because this strengthens and makes plants healthier.
Which month should hydrangeas be pruned?
Depending on which group the plant belongs to, the timing and extent of pruning are determined:
Advice on Pruning for Group 1:
- As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder in the late summer and fall, buds for the following year’s blooms start to form.
- Typically, removing dead, diseased, or damaged branches is all that is required to preserve shape, size, and a healthy plant. Otherwise, gentle pruning ought to be practiced.
- In the summer, trimming should begin as soon as flowering ends, but no later than August 1. Pruning should not be done in the fall, winter, or spring because you risk removing fresh buds.
- Tip-pruning the branches in the spring as the leaves begin to appear can promote more numerous, smaller flower heads as opposed to fewer, larger flower heads.
Advice on Pruning for Group 2:
- On the growth of the current year, flower buds form.
- Early in the spring, as the leaves are starting to emerge, prune.
- Just above a node, prune branches back by half to a third.
- After that, prune any fragile or spindly branches.
- Minimal trimming encourages huge, strong bushes with many of tiny flower heads in H. arborescens. Hard pruning between 12 and 18 inches from the ground, or even all the way down, will result in fewer but larger flower heads that may flop if unsupported.
- For H. paniculata, remove the surrounding smaller wood while leaving the larger stems in order to establish a sturdy foundation.
Pruning may be connected to flower head size. Shoots will grow more vigorously and flower heads will be bigger and fewer with more rigorous trimming. Smaller but more numerous flower heads may result from less aggressive or tip pruning.
Consideration of hydrangeas’ mature size is the best piece of advise. Place them in a location where they won’t outgrow and won’t need a lot of pruning to keep them in check. Hydrangeas don’t need to be pruned precisely or often; as long as dead wood is removed, they will remain healthy and continue to develop and bloom.
Can hydrangeas be kept in pots?
Do hydrangeas thrive in containers? Given that potted hydrangeas received as gifts rarely survive longer than a few weeks, it’s a reasonable question. The good news is that they can, given the proper treatment. Growing hydrangeas in pots is a great idea because they can grow to be fairly large and have beautiful blossoms all summer long. Learn more about container-grown hydrangea plants and how to take care of hydrangea in pots by reading on.