How far back should I cut my hydrangea?

okay, if in uk be careful ... there is still time for frost and nothing worse than waking up to find new shoots blackened with frost.

So cut back carefully depending on how large you want it to be - if you want a large bush then dont hack it down.

Always cut just above a shoot and cut at an angle to prevent rain laying on the cut.

Then surround the base with something like newspaper or even a plastic bin liner... Take care of it and it will bloooooom beautifully ... if the shoots are showing and a frost threatens cover with an old net curtain at night.

The bits you chopped off... can create new shrubs...

Cut them just below a shoot and take out top shoots just leaving possibly one green shoot... dip into hormone powder and plant up in small container keep on kitchen windowsill or similar to keep an eye on... and then you got more shrubs for next year... Also you can change the colour of your shrubs ..by putting old pennies in the soil just around the plant. Pink plants then go blue??? enjoy x

How far back should I cut my hydrangea?
What type is it.
Reply:A general tidy-up will do, just to ensure it doesn't get top heavy, but don't do till about May.
Reply:As everyone has said wait till all danger of frost has pasted.



Most of the hydrangea pruning confusion comes from folks who have never grown hydrangeas wanting to lump them all into one pruning rule - prune in winter or prune immediately following flowering or prune to the ground or never needs pruning!!!



Each of these pruning rules is correct for some hydrangea species and cultivars, but not all.



The most straightforward hydrangeas to prune are the mostly white flowered, 'Brussels Lace,' 'Kyushu,' 'Pee Gee,' 'Pee Wee,' 'Pink Diamond,' 'Unique' and 'White Moth.' H. arborescens cultivars include 'Annabelle,' 'Hills of Snow' and 'Samantha.' All of these flower on new wood. They can be cut back immediately after flowering and may rebloom or they can be cut back in the winter and still be expected to flower the following year. How far you cut them back is completely up to your personal preference. (Unless you live in a restricted community with pruning covenants, there are no pruning police.) You don't even need to prune H. arborescens or paniculata at all but it makes for a neater plant and, if you want long stems for fresh or dried flowers, pruning back hard encourages long stems on older plants.



The the oak leaf and big leaf hydrangeas, are alleged to only flower on buds that were formed the previous season. SO, if you prune them in late fall, winter or early spring, you will be cutting off that season's flowers!!! If drastic pruning is required, do it immediately after flowering. The best and safest way to prune them is to remove some older stems but leave most stems so that you are removing about one-third of the growth each year. Many of these cultivars are also killed back every winter but regrow from buds an inch or two above the earth and flower a few feet above the ground. My advice with these is to do what you feel like doing when it comes to pruning. If cautious, prune by only removing some growth each winter. Since most of these shrubs don't seem to demand pruning in order to be attractive, don't prune unless the plants really call for it. In the mountains of NC, after years of observing over a hundred cultivars of macrophyllas, I am convinced that when plants fail to flower in our fields it is usually due to a late frost killing new growth and a slow recovery.



There is no need to prune climbing hydrangeas.



Remember the various hydrangeas have not read the rules on pruning, so they don't always follow these rules! ;)



Hope this helps.
Reply:BA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Reply:just the part that is extra - not into the region that will still make leaves %26amp; flowers or it will not be bushy



x
Reply:i cut them all the way down in the fall( i live in the upper midwest)
Reply:first, look here and find out what kind you have....



http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com



each type has it's own pruning needs... use the wrong one on some of them and you'll end up with no flowers.... once you find yours, look on that site for info on pruning it.... good place for info on how to dry the flowers, change the colors etc........
Reply:Hi there,

Just cut it back to behind where it flowered - right above a couple of 'buds' ...

Cheers

Lindy