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Hydrangea pruning
jamesharcourt
Posts: 465
in Plants
Hi - I'm hoping someone with expertise in Hydrangea pruning can help.
See below, this is a mature Hydrangea which the previous owners of our house left behind 10 years ago when we moved in. Each year it is 6'-7' high and wide and normally covered completely in blooms.
As you can see from the picture, it is right up against a wall and the other side of that is the pavement / sidewalk. I have had complaints from the council and essentially whilst it looked stunning it meant people had to almost walk in the road and so I tried last November to cut it back.
I tried the approach of taking out some stems from the base to reduce the overall size. I shortened a few but generally just tried to take out whole stems to reduce the size.
On this one, it's not too bad as the flowers have appeared on the top and hasn't spilled out into the road.
However, there is another one (out of shot) which hasn't been so good and all the blooms are on the wrong side (i.e. the side that gets me in trouble) - the other side has no blooms at all, just leaves.
Normally the entire thing is covered in blooms to the point of being too big for the neighbors / passers by.
I *think* this is a variety which blooms on buds set the previous year, but I can't quite work it out.
Can anybody tell me what the best way is to control the size but also get the most blooms? It feels as if I should be cutting it now to do that, but the advice is always to keep the dead flower heads on as researching it suggest always to leave flower heads on until next Spring.
But I just can't tell whether the flowers appear on ANY buds set the previous year or whether it's just the outermost buds.
Any help appreciated, thanks!
See below, this is a mature Hydrangea which the previous owners of our house left behind 10 years ago when we moved in. Each year it is 6'-7' high and wide and normally covered completely in blooms.
As you can see from the picture, it is right up against a wall and the other side of that is the pavement / sidewalk. I have had complaints from the council and essentially whilst it looked stunning it meant people had to almost walk in the road and so I tried last November to cut it back.
I tried the approach of taking out some stems from the base to reduce the overall size. I shortened a few but generally just tried to take out whole stems to reduce the size.
On this one, it's not too bad as the flowers have appeared on the top and hasn't spilled out into the road.
However, there is another one (out of shot) which hasn't been so good and all the blooms are on the wrong side (i.e. the side that gets me in trouble) - the other side has no blooms at all, just leaves.
Normally the entire thing is covered in blooms to the point of being too big for the neighbors / passers by.
I *think* this is a variety which blooms on buds set the previous year, but I can't quite work it out.
Can anybody tell me what the best way is to control the size but also get the most blooms? It feels as if I should be cutting it now to do that, but the advice is always to keep the dead flower heads on as researching it suggest always to leave flower heads on until next Spring.
But I just can't tell whether the flowers appear on ANY buds set the previous year or whether it's just the outermost buds.
Any help appreciated, thanks!
0
Posts
Have a read of this - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=516 and see what it says about reviving tired hydrangeas cos that would work for yours that is too big or you could do half teh stems in one go and the others the following year so you don't have a year with no flowers.
Just to confuse things, the paniculata types flower on new wood so can be pruned back in spring without losing flowers.
They are huge plants, people don’t realise when they plant them just how big they will grow.
I never bother about taking some stalks out for the sake of half flowers, I’d rather do the lot.
I wonder if it’s not too late to take the whole thing down now, it may make enough growth for flowers next year.
With plants the size of yours I don’t think you can harm it whatever you do.
@Lyn interesting you say that they need a new chop already after just a couple of yetars ... I did read that whatever you do they come back the following year to the exact same size.
The main "big leaf" hydrangea is great but managing the size and keeping the flowers seems to be a real conundrum.
I'd rather not cut to the ground as it provides screening to the street (and our front windows are about 3' from the wall at one point and it's a busy pavement) ... so I'm trying to find a solution which keeps it at least 4' all year around but keeps as many flowers a possible but keep the width under control) ...
I don't mind putting in effort each year to prune but it's just knowing when and how ...
Here’s example of an all over chop. I, personally think its worth giving them a really good cut down and thin out every so often, but it’s a matter of choice of course.
1st photo, 30th March 2019. 2nd today.
Personally, I hate the colour of those 'child's birthday cake' pink and blue ones, but it's all a matter of taste.
It would be easy to replace with something else that's more manageable - trellis and climbers for instance, which might fit the space better, and bring fewer problems with passers by and the council.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...