Hydrangeas should produce large and abundant flowers every year, but it can be discouraging to see weak or few blooms on this beautiful plant.
If gardeners aren’t seeing results with their hydrangeas, they’re probably doing something wrong, but there are three simple steps to getting blooming hydrangeas.
Rochelle Greayer, a garden and landscaping expert who is the founder of Pith and Vigor, has shared that the secret to growing “blooms bigger than a basketball” is vigorous pruning of hydrangeas.
He said, “Here’s the trick – CUT THEM OUT. Very difficult. Don’t panic, but the trick is to get each branch just a few inches above the soil.
“It’s scary, but trust me on this. By cutting this way, you get a very different plant than the one that grew naturally.”
Rochelle added: “You have to understand that when you cut hard, you’re not going to have a bushy bush. Instead, you have long sticks with pom poms on the ends.
“That’s the sacrifice you make—a nice landscape shrub or a weird-looking shrub—but the flowers are at least six times bigger. And if you take them to a farmers market, they might sell out in minutes.”
However, it should be noted that new wood hydrangeas should only be pruned at this time of year.
Old tree hydrangeas, such as bigleaf or oakleaf hydrangeas, have already developed their buds for next year’s growth, and pruning them now will destroy next year’s flowers.
One of the most important steps in pruning hydrangeas is being able to identify the type of hydrangea plant so you don’t cut it at the wrong time.
Old tree hydrangeas typically bloom in early summer, while new tree hydrangeas typically bloom later in the summer.
New tree hydrangeas also have fresh green stems that grow quickly, while old tree hydrangeas have more woody and tough growth.
According to Rochelle, if you’re having trouble getting hydrangeas to bloom, you should buy new tree hydrangeas, such as limelight hydrangeas, but she also recommends hydrangea (peegee) or smooth hydrangeas (hortensia arborescens) because they’re easy to care for. /.
Rochelle said: “I started with Limelight and then move on to other varieties when you’re confident.
“Border lights are very adaptable and easy to grow, tough as nails, and hard to mess up permanently so you can go out with confidence that you’re not going to kill them.”
It may seem obvious, but if your hydrangeas are still struggling to flower after pruning, it’s best to make sure they’re getting enough water and that their soil drains well so the roots aren’t constantly soaking in water.
Rochelle said: “In my experiments, better soil and more regular water make a difference in terms of size and lead to larger blooms. In fact, I suspect water is more important than soil quality.”
He added: “Wet roots and poorly draining soil are the worst for these plants – the root ball rots and you might not get flowers.”
Trimming hydrangeas back and making sure they are properly watered is a “special secret” to growing hydrangeas and blooming more abundantly.
