Hydrangea Pruning – A Simple Guide

Your beautiful Hydrangea shrubs are the backbone of your garden. You want to make sure you don’t over-prune them and lose all the pretty flowers! This means you want to know about Hydrangea pruning!

Pruning Hydrangeas is actually quite easy. The trick, though, is to know which Hydrangea you have!

Different types of Hydrangea produce flowers buds at different times of the season. Some produce their flower buds at the end of the previous season, so they’re already present when spring time rolls around. These are described as flowering on ‘old wood’. Others, however, produce their flower buds in the same season as they flower; these are described as flowering on ‘new wood’.

In this post, we’re going to concentrate on Hydrangea pruning for the most commonly planted Hydrangea in our Southern Ontario gardens.

When to prune?

If you’re pruning at all, the best time to tend to these stalwarts is in early spring.

The one thing ALL these shrubs generally need is to remove any dead, damaged or diseased stems (the 3 d’s!). Any crossing stems will rub against others and may lead to damage, so these should be removed, too.

How to prune?

Now, let’s start with the easy ones!

Hydrangea paniculata (Panicle Hydrangea):

These guys flower on the new season’s growth (new wood), so they’re actually quite forgiving. Once the 3 d’s have been taken care of, they generally just need shaping. It’s best to cut stems back to just above a set of buds.

NOTE: As a rule, be careful to only remove up to 1/3rd of the plant’s growth.

H. arborescens (Smooth Hydrangea)

Again, the Smooth Hydrangea flower on the new season’s growth (new wood). These shrubs tend to get BIG, so you can cut these plants down uniformly to about 6-8 inches above the ground. Always prune out any of the 3d’s to maintain health & vitality.

H. macrophylla (Bigleaf / Mophead Hydrangea) & H. quercifolia (Oakleaf Hydrangea):

These are the ones you need to be careful with. They produce their flower buds on old wood, at the end of the previous growing season. Therefore, they do not need pruning, as such. Aside from any pruning of the 3 d’s, any dead flower heads left from the previous season can be pruned out just above the next set of buds.

When pruning out dead stems, it’s best to prune these out as low as possible to the crown of the plant, where it meets the soil.

So, there you have it!! Our simple guide on Hydrangea pruning means you can now prune your Hydrangeas with confidence 😊

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