Hey, Mophead; It's Time for a Haircut! Well, Perhaps Not.

Nikko Blue Mophead Hydrangeas

If you want the best blooms for your mophead hydrangeas next year, THEY say the next several weeks are the best time to cut them back or very close to the ground, but are THEY right?

Well, not really, on both claims.

I can prune almost all hydrangeas, if need be, most any time of year and they will still produce blooms when time comes. It simply depends on their maturity, the intent and knowing how and where to prune. One can cause some ill effects on next season's blooms by simply hacking back without thought or a plan.

To get the best out of them, please don't resort to some hand-me-down advice about cutting them back to the ground each year, immediately after the blooms are spent. You could end up not enjoying the wonderful foliage of your hydrangeas for the remainder of the year and less and smaller blooms next year, not to mention drooping stems/canes, leaving your gorgeous hydrangea looking limp, sickly and a cluttered mess in your plant beds and landscape.

If you wish to leave the pruning to me, I will also remove non-producing/dead stems and unwanted ground-growth and weeds from the base while not damaging any new canes. Depending on the individual plant, its location and your desires, we may be able to do some shaping as well.

If so, please contact me using the CONTACT US form to the right or call Doug at 803-553-5757.

There are other hydrangeas:

• Lacecap and Mountain - both in the macrophylla species along with the Mophead
• Panicle
• Smooth
• Oakleaf
• Climbing

Some Hydrangea Tips

• They do not like really wet feet regardless of what some say about hydra being in its name - not true. Hydrangea is a modern Latin word derived from two Greek words meaning water vessel and has to do with the shape of its seed capsule.
• Afternoon leaf wilt may occur during the hotter months, but is usually not detrimental and the leaves will recover overnight. This wilt will usually occur in hot conditions and in direct sunlight, but even in dappled light with temperatures over 90 degrees. The beautiful big leaf varieties don't have the safeguard incorporated in their leaves like most other plants and allow the release of too much moisture. If you wish, apply some water to the base of the plant, not the leaves (Plants do not take in water through their leaves.), do not drown it and watch it slowly recover. You may wish to change your watering schedule for big leaf hydrangeas to late afternoon or early evening as to not over-water it correcting for the wilting.
• Some hydrangeas can be quite finicky when transplanted, even from pot to ground. You may want to monitor them more than those cast iron plants you just threw in the dirt.
• Some young hydrangeas may not produce new blooms the first year even if they did while in a pot.
• If the other plants in your bed are healthy and the leaves and stems of your hydrangea look healthy, don't go throwing fertilizer at them; particularly Bloom Booster - another gardening myth.

Whichever species you have, I hope you enjoy them. They are wonderful plants.