If your plant is 2-3' at the moment, then you should expect about 1.5-2 foot growth from that, this season... this is mine at the moment.. Hydrangea paniculata 'Phantom'...
I'll add some more information about it shortly...
...ok.. I try very hard to only talk from personal experience of a particular plant in question..
...my plant above has been moved twice... this winter I decided to prune it hard down to just 1 foot.. ...this is the easiest plant in the world to deal with, it takes no time at all.. but the gardener has 3 options with pruning.. ...Light pruning, intermediate, or hard... ...to achieve the 3 metre height you would have to go with light pruning each year, which means just deadheading the old flower heads off but leave the main framework... eventually after some years it will achieve that height.. but it takes time.. it only flowers on new growth made during the current season..
...that would be too big for my garden, so I use either intermediate or hard pruning.. intermediate involves pruning back by about 1/3rd to 1/2 the plant only... this way your hydrangea will achieve about 4 to 4.5 feet in height... perfect for me usually..
...the thing to point out here is that, with light pruning your hydrangea will grow larger in time, and the flower heads will be more numerous, but they will be smaller..
..with intermediate pruning... your hydrangea will be compact, the flower heads will be reasonably numerous and slightly larger than light pruning..
...with hard pruning as I have done this winter, the flower heads will be fewer but they will be the largest of all... huge heads...on a short stocky plant..
...so it is up to the gardener what you want to achieve... pruning is so simple and is the work of a few seconds in winter... one other thing to say about it is that the foliage is liable to turn slightly chlorotic if alkaline tap water is used... it also appreciates feeding with an Acid/Azalea feed in Spring..
Many many thanks @Marlorena .... amazing info and detail.
I'd need to contain it to around 4-5' height and 3-4' width max otherwise it will smother other things nearby completely so it sounds like the intermediate is best here ... )
My soil is slightly acidic here ... I've been hot composting for about 8 years and the pH of that generally comes up just slightly on the acidic side - plus I've mulched with composted pine bark in this area for a few years as there was a japanese maple here which is now in a pot for future Bonsai.
I used to live in North Herts and it's chalk soil there ... maybe it's the same in East Anglia? ... down here it's clay which isn't necessarily acidic but stuff grows better, the downside being the soil is hard to work with and it's back breaking work to break it up and work stuff into it. When it's dry it's like breaking rocks ... when it's wet it's impossible to break up as it forms a solid, non-porous mass.
I didn't do much with large parts of the garden for about 5-6 years when we moved here and years of leaf drop naturally composted into the soil in the beds - and since i added homegrown compost it has really improved in some areas - but there are parts which are just solid clay and I basically need to go at it with an axe/mattocke if i need to dig it over ... but yeah, it has it's benefits too ))
..West Sussex is nice, I used to live in East Sussex, down near Hastings, and I had that same kind of soil you describe... I could grow Rhododendrons though, lots of those around.. I have a sandy loam now, - this is a rose growing area - and it is easier to work but I miss a big rhodo... I can get away with small ones..
..I miss Nymans garden and my favourite garden centre was near East Grinstead... the countryside is beautiful and I think they get the best of the weather..
Garden in Belgium was deep fertile loam over a clay subsoil. This one is a mix of loma, sand, volcanic schist in bands and some of it has, like the last garden, been cow pasture for centuries so very fertile. The bits where I have my hydrangeas are next to the walls of the ruin of the fold farmhouse and I have cleared almost a quarry load of stones before improving the soil with compost and manure.
I haven't pruned mine back yet this year as they've been slow to get going and I'm planning to be greedy and try and take cuttings when I see where the buds break. There seem to be a few more each day now the weather's warming up. On @Marlorena's scale of pruning I find medium is best as the very big flower heads flop too much as they're so heavy.
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...my plant above has been moved twice... this winter I decided to prune it hard down to just 1 foot..
...this is the easiest plant in the world to deal with, it takes no time at all.. but the gardener has 3 options with pruning..
...Light pruning, intermediate, or hard...
...to achieve the 3 metre height you would have to go with light pruning each year, which means just deadheading the old flower heads off but leave the main framework... eventually after some years it will achieve that height.. but it takes time.. it only flowers on new growth made during the current season..
...that would be too big for my garden, so I use either intermediate or hard pruning.. intermediate involves pruning back by about 1/3rd to 1/2 the plant only... this way your hydrangea will achieve about 4 to 4.5 feet in height... perfect for me usually..
...the thing to point out here is that, with light pruning your hydrangea will grow larger in time, and the flower heads will be more numerous, but they will be smaller..
..with intermediate pruning... your hydrangea will be compact, the flower heads will be reasonably numerous and slightly larger than light pruning..
...with hard pruning as I have done this winter, the flower heads will be fewer but they will be the largest of all... huge heads...on a short stocky plant..
...so it is up to the gardener what you want to achieve... pruning is so simple and is the work of a few seconds in winter... one other thing to say about it is that the foliage is liable to turn slightly chlorotic if alkaline tap water is used... it also appreciates feeding with an Acid/Azalea feed in Spring..
I'd need to contain it to around 4-5' height and 3-4' width max otherwise it will smother other things nearby completely so it sounds like the intermediate is best here ... )
My soil is slightly acidic here ... I've been hot composting for about 8 years and the pH of that generally comes up just slightly on the acidic side - plus I've mulched with composted pine bark in this area for a few years as there was a japanese maple here which is now in a pot for future Bonsai.
Thank you again for your experience.
I didn't do much with large parts of the garden for about 5-6 years when we moved here and years of leaf drop naturally composted into the soil in the beds - and since i added homegrown compost it has really improved in some areas - but there are parts which are just solid clay and I basically need to go at it with an axe/mattocke if i need to dig it over ... but yeah, it has it's benefits too ))
..I miss Nymans garden and my favourite garden centre was near East Grinstead... the countryside is beautiful and I think they get the best of the weather..
Garden in Belgium was deep fertile loam over a clay subsoil. This one is a mix of loma, sand, volcanic schist in bands and some of it has, like the last garden, been cow pasture for centuries so very fertile. The bits where I have my hydrangeas are next to the walls of the ruin of the fold farmhouse and I have cleared almost a quarry load of stones before improving the soil with compost and manure.
I haven't pruned mine back yet this year as they've been slow to get going and I'm planning to be greedy and try and take cuttings when I see where the buds break. There seem to be a few more each day now the weather's warming up. On @Marlorena's scale of pruning I find medium is best as the very big flower heads flop too much as they're so heavy.