Name: Michele Roth N.E. Indiana - Zone 5b, and F (Zone 9b) I'm always on my way out the door..
I've never cut anything away except for deadwood and old blooms in early spring, but I've read quite a bit about hard pruning these for bigger blooms and more shapely plants. Does anyone who prunes theirs this way have pictures to share to show cuts made and later on, the plant in bloom? I'd love to be able to compare the results.
I generally wait until the leaf buds start expanding before pruning out dead wood. The few that I have that bloom on new wood (excluding 'Endless Bummer') - I will shape them a bit if the stems get really long because I know they'll just bow over when they bloom. I've always heard to just leave hydrangeas alone except for the dead wood thing. I did hear a podcast mentioning that once the shrub is in bloom that the non-flowering branches can be cut back so there's a more dramatic effect of more blooms/less foliage. Have never tried that one since I wondered if the reduced biomass would be an issue for the plant. I've never documented the before and after but then I'm not much of a picture-taker.
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money. Cree proverb
Name: Michele Roth N.E. Indiana - Zone 5b, and F (Zone 9b) I'm always on my way out the door..
Thanks Cindy.
I think I have myself talked into a semi-hard pruning of mine. I'll cut each bloom stalk back by about one-half, and try to take pictures to document the effect. My older plant's blooms are smaller these days, so I'm hoping it will help it too.
As a rule, I don't feed many of my perennials and shrubs although I used to give hydrangeas some super phosphate for the blooms. I don't do that anymore but perhaps some compost or a little rock phosphate might help?
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money. Cree proverb
Name: Michele Roth N.E. Indiana - Zone 5b, and F (Zone 9b) I'm always on my way out the door..
It does get lots of compost with horse manure. I think half the battle may be too much shade, but I'm not going to move it this spring. I do want to try to trim the new one up nicely though; it has a prominent position in the rock garden area.
Could the nitrogen be too high in the horse manure? I don't have any experience with it.
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money. Cree proverb
Good luck with your pruning. Perhaps they need a year off from blooming.
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money. Cree proverb
Name: Michele Roth N.E. Indiana - Zone 5b, and F (Zone 9b) I'm always on my way out the door..
I did end up cutting each bloom-bearing stalk by half, and the new leaves started popping out in the next day or so! The timing was poor for picture-taking, but at least it's done and the plants seem to like it...so far.