Hydrangea plant question

We have been in our house since December so I haven't had to think about any plants/gardening since being in the house. We have a couple hydrangea bushes in our backyard and I have zero knowledge about gardening! Do I have to do anything with them? Cut them down totally or just cut the top of the branches? I know the previous owners told me that she planted a bunch of flowers that should keep coming back up too, but I'm so clueless with all this! Thank you

Re: Hydrangea plant question

The best thing to do is leave them alone. Even though they look like ugly sticks right now, if you cut them down you are killing live branches. In late summer, after they've bloomed you can cut out all the dead wood.
Enjoy!

Re: Hydrangea plant question

I had a hydrangea at our old place. I never did anything with it and it came back every year. I think you can cut it back a little though, and it should be fine.

Re: Hydrangea plant question

You can cut it back, but not until late Summer. I believe late August is the right time to cut it down if you want. You don't ever have to cut it though it you don't want to. I have Hydrangeas. We have two right now.

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Oh this is a great post - there are seven hydrangea bushes in my yard that look terrible at the moment (they were never cut back) and I have been wondering what to do to take care of them. They are just about the only thing I plan to keep from the overgrown yard!

Has anyone ever transplanted them/moved them to another area of the yard? I think I would like to do this.

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Re: Hydrangea plant question

I was debating on whether to chop the one here as well and then I checked out my neighbors. They have the biggest ones I've ever seen. The flowers are HUGE. They don't do a thing to theirs, so I decided to let mine be.

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Posted by JldDolphin

Posted by Megs4

Has anyone ever transplanted them/moved them to another area of the yard? I think I would like to do this.

I did. And it lived.

It used to be on the side of the house in a very small flower bed that floods out when it rains.

When we just bought the house and didn't weed yet.
IMAGE

We moved it to the front garden. It liked it better there and the flowers were more blue the following year.

It's in the middle of this bed now.
IMAGE

And when it bloomed last year it looked like this.
IMAGE

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Thanks everyone! I really want to get into gardening, but in the past, I have not had a green thumb at all. It's nice to know that I can leave it alone and hopefully they will still come up beautiful this summer!

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Re: Hydrangea plant question

There's a good related thread at the end of this thread about the soil/flower color.

The only thing I would say should be done every few years is to remove dead wood. Since dead wood looks suspiciously like live wood, use the pull test.

Grab it, give it a good pull, and if it comes out, remove it.

Last year, I pruned all three of my hydrangeas because they had never been shaped and were either ugly or out of control. I did this late summer, after doing a google search and finding out it was the best time.

This spring, I'm going to test the pH of the soil and add amendments to make them all blue. So far, 2 of them are blue and one is in between so it looks like a mottled purple.

Good luck with yours!

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Posted by greenfreak

There's a good related thread at the end of this thread about the soil/flower color.

The only thing I would say should be done every few years is to remove dead wood. Since dead wood looks suspiciously like live wood, use the pull test.

Grab it, give it a good pull, and if it comes out, remove it.

Last year, I pruned all three of my hydrangeas because they had never been shaped and were either ugly or out of control. I did this late summer, after doing a google search and finding out it was the best time.

This spring, I'm going to test the pH of the soil and add amendments to make them all blue. So far, 2 of them are blue and one is in between so it looks like a mottled purple.

Good luck with yours!

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Re: Hydrangea plant question

Hydrangea bloom on second year wood so if you trim off that wood you won't get blooms. I wait until the leaves start to come out, then clip out any clearly dead sticks that are not getting any leaves. I do this in the spring before the leaves are much more than buds.

Re: Hydrangea plant question

If you need to prune you need to do so after flowering. The buds for next year flowers cannot sustain the cold winter.

Like PP said, the flowers grow on last year's branches.

ETA: to get blue flowers you need acidic soil. So you might have to amend if you are looking for blue. Otherwise the bloom will be pink in a non acidic soil. You need to test your PH.

Message edited 3/27/2009 10:46:12 AM.

Re: Hydrangea plant question

I planted mine last year but it seemed like the flowers were huge and wayyyy too heavy. so i cut them back...we'll see what happens this year.

Re: Hydrangea plant question

I always trim the dead stuff off my Hydrangeas around March. They always come back really full and lovely. They are my favorites and I had tons of them at my wedding. Love them!

Re: Hydrangea plant question

This is all great advice! The rest of my yard may be a disaster this year but at least my hydrangeas will look good!

Some of ours still have the dried up flowers on them, so maybe I will clear some of those off and then just let it be and see what they look like in bloom, then clean them up again in the early fall. I suspect nothing has been done to/for them in years.