When to rejuvenate prune Lace Cap Hydrangea

I am in the process of hacking my way through a "jungle" of old Holly, Escallonia ,Berberis and various other things. I knew there was a rather pretty white tinged blue Hydrangea in amongst the mayhem and have now reached it. Despite having been totally neglected for at least 15 years it is flowering away merrily atm. That's the good news, the bad is that it's about 10 ft tall and would be straggling all over the ground if I hadn't propped it up with 2 garden forks as stakes.
I am clueless as to when I should chop the Hydrangea down as it can't possibly stay as it is. I know if I hard prune it to basically ground level I will loose next years flower (boo but necessary) it's whether I prune it now ?(might then make some new growth which would get damaged by frosts which won't be far away) or do I leave the hard prune until next Spring? If next Spring is preferable I will have to prune it a bit soon as I very much doubt the long branches would stand up to winter now that they have lost their support from the jungle. Hope someone has the answer for me. I live in Scotland so not the gentlest of climates if that makes a difference to pruning time. Thanks

 

No idea what the official line is, but I would cut it back to a manageable height to survive the winter gales, always with the intention of hard pruning in spring.

 

Thanks Pam, those were my thoughts unless someone who knows loads about Hydrangeas which isn't me tells me to do something different.

 

I agree with Pam on this one Silu. Even if after pruning frost nips it you can always trim those parts out next spring. I think if you were to leave it through this winter it would possibly collapse through wind rock.

 

I have the Encyclopaedia of Hydrangeas in front of me ... the highlights are:

Hydrangea macrophylla does not respond well to pruning (because it flowers on second-year stems), it is best to prune a few branches almost to the base, once a year, which may result in slightly larger flowers. Better performance is achieved with no pruning.

Hydrangea paniculata responds well to annual pruning - similar style to rose pruning: cut back to 2 or 3 buds after winter has ended. However, pruning is not required, per se.

Dead heading is avoided by some with the intention of providing some frost protection for emerging buds in the spring, but there is no evidence that it makes any difference one way or t'other.

That's the sum total on Pruning I'm afraid. There is a whole chapter on "Genome size in Hydrangea"

 

Thanks Sheal and Kristen. I'll enjoy the flowers for a little longer and then give it a good going hair cut but do a severe prune in Spring. Certainly this specimen Kristen confirms that these type of Hydrangeas don't need pruning to get plenty of flowers. Unfortunately not so attractive at the end of 10 ft branches!

 

Maybe take some cuttings Belt and Braces too ...

 

Good God never even thought of doing that, thanks Kristen excellent suggestion as it is a very pretty Hydrangea but not a clue which 1 it is altho looks like Lanarth White. I will be giving it fairly drastic treatment next Spring so some insurance thro taking cuttings is a wise move. Now is an ideal time to take some and I might do some layering as well as having hugely long branches that won't be difficult to organise!