My hydrangea bush is starting to bud, do I cut it back, or leave it alone?

Hello To You,


I got my start 5 years ago by reading all I could from this site;


http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/hydra...


http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/





I have 14 hydrangeas now, and could have never learned as much as I did, as fast as I have, with-out those guys at the gardenweb.





Hope this helps, and have fun!


Dave

My hydrangea bush is starting to bud, do I cut it back, or leave it alone?
Thanks so much. The web site is great! Report It

Reply:You're very welcome!


When I bought my first hydrangea, I wanted more.


When I found that whole site, I went to bed many nights late because there was so much stuff there, and once I had seen how to propagate hydrangeas, I had them all over the place.


Have Fun!


Dave Report It

Reply:Never prune a hydrangea until after it blooms. The flowers only grow on old growth ( from the year before ). The one exception that I've heard of is the Peegee hydrangea. It only blooms on new growth.
Reply:Prune flowering shrubs immediately after they are done blooming, before they set they buds for next year. I like cut flowers, so I shape my shrubs as I go. The exception is the azaeleas that are not good cut flowers. I trim them while the wilted flower is still on the shrub.





Another reason to avoid pruning now besides that you will lose your spring blooms is that pruning incites new growth which will be killed off in a freeze.
Reply:Hydrangeas usually tell you where to prune back to. The tips of the branches go hollow and brittle back to the viable parts. All you do is bend the tips and they should snap off. If you need to prune more back be careful of taking too much off as you may take away any chances of having flowers this year. Actually it depends where you are and what type of hydrangea it is. Some like the Endless Summer variety bloom all summer and well into fall. These ones you can prune in spring and still have a nice show in the summer. The more traditonal ones that only truly bloom once in the summer need to be pruned very carefully if you want to protect the future flowers, as they tend to set there flower buds early on. If it appears to be budding early this year that is probably due to the strange winter weather that most of N. America seems to be having. The plants are really confused, but there is nothing we can do if the weather turns bad and the buds end up getting frost bitten and don't develope properly.
Reply:LEAVE IT ALONE
Reply:Leave it alone. Try doing all the trimming late summer early fall. I prefer early fall but just leave it be or you can trim some put in water and watch them open in your house.


You must live where it's warm. If it is used as an indoor plant leave it as well. My friend has one in a big pot in her living room.
Reply:I used to work for a garden shop- do not prune anything until it has finished blooming or until it is dormant! By dormant, I mean in fall or early spring when there are no buds or flowers on the shrub or plant and there are either no leaves or very few leaves on the plant in question. The same rule goes for moving plants to a new location.
Reply:Leave it alone...


if you want to prune it to keep it small,wait until after it blooms.


If you prune it now you won't have many flowers this summer.