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How to save this climbing hydrangea?

willjohnston4willjohnston4 Posts: 3
edited April 2019 in Problem solving
Hello gardeners!
I am trying to save a climbing hydrangea which has been growing into a dead locust tree over the last 2 decades, and provides great shade for our outdoor dining table. The locust is about to fall over and so im contemplating how much of the hydrangea I can cut without killing it, with the goal to build a steel pergola and retrain it to grow into that. Ive made a video which shows the situation in more detail, any advice is appreciated!   https://youtu.be/0ccJeXZNNCk

Posts

  • willjohnston4willjohnston4 Posts: 3
    Bump! Can anyone give me some advice?
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I can't open your link Will - it closed my computer down,  but you can prune back climbing hydrangeas quite hard without any problem, providing they're healthy, and you do it appropriately and carefully.
    However, as it's clearly a mature plant, I'd be inclined to do it a bit at a time, so that the stress is minimised.
    Have you got a photo which shows the two specimens, so that we can see how they're growing together? That might be better for giving advice.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • willjohnston4willjohnston4 Posts: 3
    Fairygirl said:
    I can't open your link Will - it closed my computer down,  but you can prune back climbing hydrangeas quite hard without any problem, providing they're healthy, and you do it appropriately and carefully.
    However, as it's clearly a mature plant, I'd be inclined to do it a bit at a time, so that the stress is minimised.
    Have you got a photo which shows the two specimens, so that we can see how they're growing together? That might be better for giving advice.  :)
    Hi Fairygirl, thanks for the advice! The video is a youtube link, can you check it again? (I just checked and it works). Im traveling at the moment so can't take a photo. 
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