Comments on: Hydrangea Pruning http://www.ferntreedesign.com/blog/2007/gardening/hydrangea-pruning/ Home Building, Gardening, and other Pond-erings Sat, 31 Jul 2010 05:16:30 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Prose http://www.ferntreedesign.com/blog/2007/gardening/hydrangea-pruning/comment-page-1/#comment-509 Prose Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:52:14 +0000 http://www.ferntreedesign.com/blog/http:/www.ferntreedesign.com/blog/uncategorized/2007/10/21/hydrangea-pruning/#comment-509 Hi Gail. Yes indeed, hydrangeas can get pretty big. You can still safely prune because the danger of a hard frost is over but spring has nut yet sprung. Where you miss out on your pruning is when you start to see little buds peeking out at the leaf nodes. Each one of those buds represents potential branchlet with flowers. Prune them, and you lose the flower. BUT, each branch will have multiple buds, so you can safely prune back a couple even after buds have popped out. You just won't get as many flowers as you would if you leave it alone entirely. You will, however, get *bigger* flowers. Still, I recommend that you prune less drastically now than you would in the fall. First, can you determine by looking at the plant what represents last season's growth? If you can do that, then cut that growth by no more than half. So, if you are saying that they have gotten twice as tall as you want them to be, then you should prune them back to be "half as tall" as you want them to be, if that makes sense. Then, after they have bloomed, say in August, do a more drastic pruning and give them a smidge of 10-10-10 fertilizer. This will give them a little "lift" at the end of the season before the next winter. But they will need that time in September/October to set out a little new growth. My favorite online resource for hydrangeas is a hydrangea supplier located in the Pacific Northwest, Hydrangeas Plus. Their website has a great FAQ and a resource on pruning. You can also email them and they often respond. I sign up for their montly newsletter and find it quite informative. Just wish I had acres to grow all the plants I love! Here is the URL and hope this helps. Would love to know how your blooms do this spring! -prose http://www.hydrangeasplus.com/pages.php?pageid=5 Hi Gail.
Yes indeed, hydrangeas can get pretty big. You can still safely prune because the danger of a hard frost is over but spring has nut yet sprung. Where you miss out on your pruning is when you start to see little buds peeking out at the leaf nodes. Each one of those buds represents potential branchlet with flowers. Prune them, and you lose the flower. BUT, each branch will have multiple buds, so you can safely prune back a couple even after buds have popped out. You just won’t get as many flowers as you would if you leave it alone entirely. You will, however, get *bigger* flowers.

Still, I recommend that you prune less drastically now than you would in the fall. First, can you determine by looking at the plant what represents last season’s growth? If you can do that, then cut that growth by no more than half. So, if you are saying that they have gotten twice as tall as you want them to be, then you should prune them back to be “half as tall” as you want them to be, if that makes sense.

Then, after they have bloomed, say in August, do a more drastic pruning and give them a smidge of 10-10-10 fertilizer. This will give them a little “lift” at the end of the season before the next winter. But they will need that time in September/October to set out a little new growth.

My favorite online resource for hydrangeas is a hydrangea supplier located in the Pacific Northwest, Hydrangeas Plus. Their website has a great FAQ and a resource on pruning. You can also email them and they often respond. I sign up for their montly newsletter and find it quite informative. Just wish I had acres to grow all the plants I love! Here is the URL and hope this helps. Would love to know how your blooms do this spring! -prose

http://www.hydrangeasplus.com/pages.php?pageid=5

]]> By: Gail W. http://www.ferntreedesign.com/blog/2007/gardening/hydrangea-pruning/comment-page-1/#comment-506 Gail W. Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:19:49 +0000 http://www.ferntreedesign.com/blog/http:/www.ferntreedesign.com/blog/uncategorized/2007/10/21/hydrangea-pruning/#comment-506 We did not prune our hydrangea's in the fall and now don't know what to do. We live in the Bay Area of CA. Should we prune now, some have gotten twice as tall as we want. It is the beginning of Feb. Not spring yet but it is getting nicer. I am afraid I will not have blooms this year if we prune now. I have mophead and lace cap. HELP Thank you We did not prune our hydrangea’s in the fall and now don’t know what to do. We live in the Bay Area of CA. Should we prune now, some have gotten twice as tall as we want. It is the beginning of Feb. Not spring yet but it is getting nicer. I am afraid I will not have blooms this year if we prune now. I have mophead and lace cap. HELP
Thank you

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