HYDRANGEA PRUNING – TIME TO FINISH THE JOB

Where I garden in western Connecticut, hydrangea flower buds have finally emerged. So now it is time for hydrangea pruning to finish the job and cut off the non-productive stems that are finally visible.

WHICH HYDRANGEAS HAVE FLOWER BUDS ON THEM

The good news is that my climbing hydrangeas as well as my oakleafs are all producing abundant flowers. Despite the fact that they flower on old wood (last year’s growth), those buds made it through our epic winter. There are a few dead tips here and there. But for the most part, they are well on their way to a glorious show in the coming weeks. Of course, the panicle and smooth varieties are all OK, as they are impervious to winter’s wrath. I expect to see those flowers any day now.

WHAT TO CUT

Let’s drill down to the business at hand for the old wood flowering bigleaf and mountain hydrangeas. The objective is to remove stems that will not give you flowers. If your plant is a rebloomer, it’s even better. The tip cutting you do now on rebloomers will stimulate them to produce their second flush of flowers sooner. So, get to it.

Here is what my mountain hydrangea, Hydrangea serrata Tuff Stuff Ah-Ha®, looked like a few days ago.

None of the stems on this mountain Hydrangea serrata ‘Tuff Stuff A-Ha’ survived winter conditions.

All those brown stems wereare dead, and needed to go. I’m sure you have had this happen to you. Here’s what it looks like now:

Mountain Hydrangea serrata ‘Tuff Stuff A-Ha’ after being pruned

WHAT ABOUT OTHER STEMS THAT ARE NOT SO OBVIOUS

What about something that’s a little less obvious? Here you see a bigleaf (Hydrangea macrophylla) hydrangea that needs a haircut. Although those long stems are alive, they have no live flower buds, so you can cut them down. And if it’s a rebloomer, you will be doing yourself a favor by stimulating the plant to push out that second flush of flowers.

Bigleaf Hydrangea macrophylla with winter-injured stems

Next, look for stems that have dead tips. They come in several flavors. Cut them all back as far as you can.

Bigleaf Hydrangea macrophylla stem with dead tip that needs to be removed

You might have stems that held promise earlier this season and now have “opted out” like this one:

Bigleaf Hydrangea macrophylla stem wilting as a result of winter injury

Again, cut them back as far as you can.

FERTILIZE

Your plants had a tough time this past winter. Even if you fertilized when you did your initial pruning in the early spring, do it again now. It’s especially important that your rebloomers get some food so they can work on those new flowers.

WHAT TO USE TO FERTILIZE HYDRANGEAS

Any product that is labeled for shrubs works well, as does rose food. Try not to use “balanced” fertilizer where the numbers are all the same. No plant uses nutrients in the same amounts, so when you use those balanced fertilizers, you are adding to runoff and pollution. I know gardeners like to use Holly-Tone because of the acidic micronutrients. Do a soil test first to determine if the pH needs to be lowered before you use it. Just as with the balanced fertilizers, your plant might not need/use that formulation. My “go-to” product is Rose-Tone.

Rose-tone fertilizer is very good for hydrangeas

MY HYDRANGEA PRUNING BOOK IS OUT!

I am delighted to tell you that my latest hydrangea book is out and available for sale. It answers the questions my audiences are asking me: What Stays, What Goes, and When. You can order a signed copy from my site or buy it from your favorite bookseller (unsigned).

The cover of my book about hydrangea pruning.

UPCOMING BOOK SIGNING

If you are in the area, you can also buy it at a book signing we are having next Wednesday, June 17. The flyer gives you all the details.

Flyer for book signing on June 17

I look forward to seeing you there. Tell/bring your friends.

Thanks for reading.