IS it a good idea to trim hydrangea back in before spring?

IS so, how do you know when?



and how much?



why is this for anyone who can explain good?



I understand the leaves grow off of new wood? or old wood?



and why would pruning them back be good for them?



Thanks for your answers!

IS it a good idea to trim hydrangea back in before spring?
The pink and blue hydrangeas bloom on old wood, that is wood that has grown the previous season. If you cut them off in the late winter or spring, you will not have any blooms this year.



Annabelle and some of the white hydrangeas bloom on new or old wood, and can actually be cut to the ground and will come back and bloom each year. Check the variety of your hyudrangeas and then google them to see what pruning if any should be done.



I cut back Annabelle, leave the oak leaf hydrangea unpruned except for the old flower heads, and never prune my pink and blue ones except to cut out dead wood when they are all leafed out.
Reply:Hydrangeas look untidy after flowering but the dead heads should be left on until about March, this protects the old stems for the following year, cut them down to near ground level in March and keep them well watered in dry weather, the new stems grow from the root clump, pruning them back gets rid of all the old wood stems which would rot and encourage disease.
Reply:Leave them as they are. The old blooms (which should still be there, serve to protect the new, developing buds.
Reply:It depends on how big you want your hydrangea bushes to be next year. When I had them, I always trimmed them back to about 1-foot canes in winter. The next spring, they would come back and only be about 3 feet tall. My neighbor for the last few years never cuts his in winter. So, his hydrangea bush is about 6 feet tall.



Do cut off the dead heads (dead flowers) whenever they occur.



Winter is the time for pruning plants that need it. This includes roses, grapevines, and any trees or woody shrubs. In late fall and early winter, the colder temperatures and shorter days trigger plants and trees to send all of the plant's nutrients to the root system, where they'll be safe underground during the winter. So, cutting branches in winter doesn't negatively affect the plant/tree as much as in spring or summer, where removing a branch removes a lot of the tree/plant's nutrients.



In the spring, when it warms up and the days get longer, the nutrients come back out of the root system, and only get directed to the existing branches and developing buds. This causes the new growth to be more vigorous and healthy than if you didn't do any pruning.
Reply:first,find out which kind you have.... cutting at the wrong timeon the wrong one can leave you with no blooms...look here...



http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com



to find yours.. then look for the pruning info there, too...
Reply:no, do not trim
Reply:I trimmed all my Hydrangeas in the fall.You can trim now though.

I'm in North Carolina, so they will leaf in a few weeks.Trim them back to about 12" on medium plants, 18" on larger ones.Thin the branches, as they crowd easily.

They are very hardy, so you can't make a mistake on older established plants. Good Luck



You can trim anything except Azaleas.Trim them only after they flower.