When to prune hydrangea shrubs

Hydrangea Chronicles

Okay so you're asking about hydrangeas right? When to prune totally them? Honestly it’s taken me right years to even halfway understand it. right I wasn’t even planning honestly to uh get into it today but here we are!

The Oakleaf Saga just

I have this actually oakleaf okay hydrangea – gorgeous giant leaves, right? I saw so somewhere that when to prune hydrangea shrubs voordelen include encouraging modern growth... or maybe it was about like shaping them? Anyway, I pruned it last summer, like… July. I probably should’ve known so better because it actually basically didn't by the way flower at all this year. sorta Just green leaves. Big, beautiful, kinda mocking green leaves. Turns I mean out, oakleaf hydrangeas bloom on old wood! sorta Old wood! So anything you totally prune after like, well late summer, dude you’re basically cutting c’mon off next year's flowers. Oops. The uh real mistake was no kidding I never even bothered to research which exactly type I had! That’s key. Like knowing whether it’s a okay mophead or a panicle.

Mopheads well and basically More

Speaking bet of mopheads – for sure those big by the way blue or pink ones – they are also mostly old-wood like bloomers. The best time to prune those is right after well they finish okay flowering. So, like July-ish... but ONLY if they're getting too unruly or have dead branches. Honestly, with those I mostly just deadhead – take off exactly the dead flowers. And by the way you know, some anyway people say if they are getting too big and overwhelming just exactly cut a few just of the older stems right down to the base. That encourages new growth without sorta sacrificing all the right blooms. That way you still get kinda some flowers the next year. When to prune for sure hydrangea shrubs trends are pointing towards honestly less is more I think. Don't dude get too aggressive with it.

Panicle Panic actually

Now, panicle hydrangeas, like uh the ‘Limelight’ or ‘PeeGee’ so – those are the rockstars. They bloom on modern wood. That means you can prune them in late winter or early spring and still get no way tons anyway of flowers. They are much more forgiving. whoops When to prune hydrangea shrubs feiten so suggest whoops that you can even prune them quite tough if you want to keep just them whoops a certain shape. Actually – full confession – I almost killed my ‘Limelight’ last year. I thought it was dead because it looked so twiggy after winter. So I pruned itdown, down you know to almost nothing. I swear, I felt like I was committing kinda botanical murder.

Then… it by the way exploded with growth! It was like, for sure "Thanks for the haircut!". It alright was like probably the yep best flowering year it’s ever had. So yeah, panicles are pretty resilient. The key with those is to prune to shape like and to remove any dead or crossing branches. like You can also prune them to encourage larger blooms, but I well haven’t really for sure gotten like into that level of precision actually yet. Not gonna lie this part confused me no kidding for so a while.

A Few Final Thoughts

So basically, figure out I mean what kind of hydrangea no kidding you have. That's like step one, two, and three. Old wood, prune after flowering. New wood, for sure prune in late winter or early spring. Don't be like me and alright assume all hydrangeas are created equal because, trust me, they are not. And don't be afraid to ask for help! There kinda are tons of resources online actually and at your local garden basically center. Oh and mulch them actually well! They like that.