Hi endeavour, well, the tradition method is not to prune a Hydrangea but keep the flower heads on to protect the rest of the plant from frost etc during the Winter. I would leave it until the Spring and most of the danger of frost damage has disappeared.
I pruned mine quite hard early this year, and has come back nice and full BUT it's only got one flower head this year so I won't be pruning again.
Well, you can take down to the nearest bud to about half the height of what it is. But pruning Hydrangea's too hard can lose you that years flowers and you'll have to wait for the next year/
Spot On Armand11. I made that mistake a few years ago, and cut back too severe and finished up with a huge Bush of Green And One Flower,.
If you are pruning it I would love some rooted cuttings please Happy to swap for something else, or to come round and collect them if you are close to me?
I have three white hydrangeas (tinged with blue, I think because of slug pellets ) that are completely weighted down by blooms this year (and I think are still going to put out a few more...eeek). It's got to the point where they have collapsed slightly. This is the biggest before the blooms got bigger and collapsed it! Last year I left blooms on and just trimmed them back cautiously in late feb. they seemed very happy with that but I'm a bit concerned if they flower like they did this year and I haven't pruned enough, the plant is going to look very messy and lose impact from their lovely flowers. Can I go right back to old wood, or will that lose the blooms?
Hi RG, Cutting back to old wood could lose your blooms for next year. But if you're thinking you want to reshape the Hydrangea and are prepared to do so then cutting back hard to the shape you want will do the trick......at the price of that years blooms. I would leave the Hydrangea pruning until next year until the threat of frost is over and then perhaps prune it taking out the stems you might not want and cutting the rest down to half then leaving them to flower in that year.
Yes taking the stems back was the approach I took last year and seemed to work well. They just seem to be such thin stems for such big blooms, so they droop!
