I've just about finished my winter pruning. Blueberries, crabapples, apples and other fruit trees are done. Now it's time to start on my hydrangeas.
Pruning hydrangeas can be confusing to home gardeners because when you prune varies depending on the type of hydrangea you're growing. That's the first step. Try to remember, or look into your garden notes, the name of your hydrangea. Don't worry if you can't find it, though. Another method to determine what hydrangea you have is when it blooms. If your hydrangea blooms in late spring or early summer, it's most likely a Hydrangea macrophylla or big leaf, often blue, hydrangea, an oakleaf hydrangea or a climbing hydrangea. These bloom from flower buds set last summer and fall. The time to prune them is after flowering this summer. If you prune too late in summer or fall you can remove flower buds for next year.
Generally, these types of hydrangeas don't need lots of pruning. Prune to deadhead and remove dead, diseased and broken branches and crossing branches. If you have a repeat blooming blue or pink big leaf hydrangea, such as the 'Endless Summer' types, prune those after the first flush of flowers.
If your hydrangeas bloom in mid summer to fall, you probably have Hydrangea arborescens or Hydrangea paniculata. The arborescens and panicle hydrangeas have big white, often turning to burgundy color, blooms that can last into winter. These hydrangeas bloom on new growth from this spring, so to stimulate more new growth, prune now. You can prune these hydrangeas to a basic skeleton structure of main branches and they still will flower.
