Ways To Prune Back Lifeless Hydrangeas?

To prune all types of hydrangeas, start by identifying the variety you will be pruning. Panicle and smooth hydrangeas can be pruned down by using sharp, clean trimmers to cut stems just higher than a pair of leaves. For a heavier prune, remove gray, older, or dead stems during the winter. If a plant is overgrown, prune back about a third of the stems a little harder down the stem to get good foliage.

For climbing hydrangeas (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris), cut back any over-long shoots immediately after flowering. Most flowers are small, so if you want larger blooms, try cutting your hydrangea back to the ground in early spring. Use pruning shears to cut each stem.

Climbing hydrangeas need light pruning, mostly cleaning out dead wood and any wild, hanging branches. If necessary, they can tolerate heavy pruning. In April, remove old flowerheads to just above a pair of buds. If the plant has many stems, cut at an angle between the buds to remove one of the pairs.

When pruning bigleaf hydrangeas, dead head them by snipping off the dried flower head to the first pair of fat buds below it. Lacecaps are hardier and require more pruning. The best advice for hydrangeas is to consider their mature size and locate them in an area they won’t outgrow and require heavy pruning to keep them in bounds.