What To Do With A Too Big Hydrangea
What To Do With A Too Big Hydrangea
“My hydrangea’s too big,” we hear our customers say. “How can I prune it?” Before we answer such a question, it’s important to know what kind of hydrangeas our clients have. Are they are blue lace caps or mopheads (Hydrangea macrophylla or H. serrata)? Or do they grow the pink or white smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens) such as the Annabelle or Invincibelle Spirit? Perhaps our customers are growing the white panicle hydrangeas (H. paniculata) or the native oakleaf (Hydrangea quercifolia). All of these plants respond differently to pruning, so knowing which variety is being grown is important.
Before we get to specifics, and the all-important photos, it’s important to say this: it’s usually folly to try and control a plant’s size with pruning. First of all, you’re fighting the plant’s genetics, which are telling it to be a particular height, width and shape. Secondly, pruning always stimulates growth. So in cutting a plant back significantly, you might think that you’re making it smaller but the plant will quickly try and replace the growth that it’s lost. So the bottom line is that if a hydrangea is too large for the location where it has been growing, the best thing would be to move it and plant a smaller variety in that spot.
Additionally, if you prune down a blue lacecap or mophead, they will not only replace their height in one summer, but you’ll have very few flowers the following summer, no matter when you prune the shrub back.
The smooth hydrangeas, such as Annabelle, Incrediball, or Invinceabelle Spirit will still flower if they are cut back, but repeatedly pruning them down results in weaker stems that may bend over so that the flowers end up on the ground. Again, if these plants are too large for their location, transplant them elsewhere and put in a Wee White or Mini-Mauvette because these varieties will stay shorter.
Panicle hydrangeas such as Lime Light, Pinky Winky, Fire Light and so on can grow quite large. They will still flower if they are hard-pruned, but this often results in fast re-growth and larger flowers that weight the stems down. There are alternatives to trying to make a plant shorter, however. With panicle hydrangeas it’s often better to turn larger plants into small trees.
Panicle type hydrangeas that stay shorter include Bobo, Little Quick Fire, and Fire Light Tidbit. Little Lime is a medium-sized shrub (around 5 to 6 feet tall and wide).
Fall is a great time to move any Hydrangeas that are growing in the wrong spot. Dig them in early September and place the plants where they can be the size that their genetics are telling them to grow. Once moved, the only pruning you’ll have to do is to remove dead canes on the mopheads and lacecaps, and cut off dead wood and crossed/rubbing branches on the other varieties. When a plant is growing in the right place, you can prune to improve appearance and give up on trying to control the shrub’s size.
14 Comments
Leave a Comment
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Sign up for our weekly email about sales and events.
My oaklesf white hydrangea is getting too big with very few flowers. I live on Huntington Beach. CA.
Be sure it’s getting some sun, you aren’t pruning it back at any time, and you’re watering it once a week through the summer.
Digging up and moving a large hydrangea isn’t always possible. There must be something else one can do. I live in a strata and am trying to deal with this myself. Landscapers only prune with a hedge trimmer.
There is no way to make the plant shorter as these shrubs replace their growth in a single season. If the plant is too wide, you can repeatedly clip off the outside canes, but since those are the youngest and most vital stems you end up with a less vigorous plant. Maybe you can hire someone to help you move a too large plant.
I have been only trimming my panicle hydrangea in the early spring down to the first nodes before the old wood. Can I prune into the old wood or will this stop it from blooming?
Since panicle hydrangeas bloom on new growth, you are safe cutting into the older stems as you wish, in the early spring before that new growth appears.
Is there any way to control the height of my limelight hydrangeas they’re in front of my front windows and they’re getting out of control, but I already pruned it down quite a bit in the spring so I’m not sure if there’s another strategy.
No – there is no way to control any Hydrangea’s height. Move it if it’s too big and plant a shorter variety such as Fire Light Tidbit, Tiny Quickfire, or Bobo.
I have two paniculatas in front off and against the house. I have always cut them back to a bud and they always bloom again. They are too big for the location but I will continue to cut them back and see what it brings
The beauty of the paniculatas is that you can prune them in early spring without preventing flowering.
My oakleaf hydrangea, after years of slow growth and no flowers, is now big and beautiful! It may be too big… I planted it next to a boulder near our house… now the boulder is not visible.
I don’t want to try to move it. Can I cut back the branches to the ground over the boulder or will that compromise the health of the overall plant?
Thanks.
Lori, You can cut selective branches so that the boulder is more visible – the general rule of thumb is to only remove about a quarter of the plant’s total mass.
My mop head has huge flower heads , but they are mostly down in the plant and not all that visible, what am I doing wrong ?
It sounds like you are cutting the canes back, either in the fall or spring. These plants form their buds in July and August for the following year, and so if they are “neatened up” or clipped back at any time you’ll only have flowers inside and lower down. The only pruning you should ever do on these plants is to remove dead canes after the plant has broken dormancy in the spring and has leaves the size of quarters. At that point, any cane that doesn’t have green leaves on it should get removed…otherwise, no pruning.