Pruning Hydrangea

Following on from our Heavenly Hydrangeas blog last month  a customer has asked how to prune a reluctant flowering Hydrangea.

As with most shrub pruning the aim is to create a nicely shaped shrub and to promote  a rounded shrub on which there is plenty of new season growth on which the plant flowers.

This process can be split into roughly five steps:

Step 1

Remove all of the old flowers  so that you can assess the situation.

Step 2

Identify the three types of wood on the rest of the plant.

Ist Year                       Green, shiny and with white vertical markings, generally the branches with flowers or blind                                        shoots on them.

2nd year                     Greyish green with slighty flaking bark with side shoots

3rd year and older       Dull grey with flaking bark

Step 3

Remove some of the  main branches from deep within the centre of the bush with either loppers or a pruning saw. The branches that need removing  have old and flaking  bark  right in at the base of the plant .

Step 4

Take  all stems that have had flowers on them the previous  season to blind buds further down the stem and spur back any new water shoots that might be coming from the base of the plant. This will create an open structure on  which there are plenty of new flower bearing shoots next spring.

If there are additional  pieces of very old wood at the base of the plant  that maybe should be removed to make way for new growth then tackle them also.

Over time, this type of pruning will create  a rounded framework with a balance of  sturdy second year wood and vigorous first year wood rising from the base .

Step 5 

Hydrangeas are gross feeders so plenty of slow release fertilizer should be applied to encourage lush new  growth in spring. Heavy mulching is advisable soon after the plant is pruned to preserve  as much spring moisture in the soil as possible.