Hydrangea experts . . . Can my little bush, when pruned become one of those upstanding, one trunked hydrangea?

tree? I love the look of them. My little bush has about 5 woody base branches and it produces lots of blooms, but it droops all over the place and looks sad. I am planning for next season as I live in the North.

Hydrangea experts . . . Can my little bush, when pruned become one of those upstanding, one trunked hydrangea?
The hydrangea that is grown like a tree is Hydrangea paniculata. There are four or five species that are grown (up north), but only the one that can be trained like a tree.





If yours is in fact a paniculata (PeeGee), you can train it yourself. Start with a 3-4' stake, put it into the ground as close to the center of the shrub that you can. Tape one trunk to the stake using masking tape. Cut out two or three of the remaining branches to the ground. Don't allow any new 'suckers' to develop. You can do this all this fall. In the spring remove about half of the side branches from the one you've attached to the stake. Continue to train the main branch to develop height. In the fall (2008) remove the rest of the branches that you're not training. A few years after that you should have a very tree-like hydrangea.





You may have to leave the stake in, until the trunk develops adequate girth to support the weight of the branching at the top. Every fall, remove about 1/3 of the length of the branches of the 'tree like' top, to keep it compact and lighter, again, until the trunk develops some strength.





Good luck


I hope that this helps
Reply:I saw a question about trimming your little bush and it got my interest. If the woody droops all over the place and looks sad that can't be good.


I guess I misunderstood the question. lol
Reply:I think the tree form Hydrangeas are grafted onto the trunk. I'm sure you could cut all but one of the base branches %26amp; trim at the desired height. I think you'll be stuck with a lot of pinching to keep the others back %26amp; growth off the trunk.


Have you tried a support ring? Like for Peoany. You could also try trimming it during the season to keep the branches from getting too long %26amp; heavy.