How and When to Prune Hydrangea's

You are likely to see mixed advice online about how and when to prune your hydrangea's, but it really isn't a complicated process.  Don't overthink it!  You can successfully prune your hydrangea's in early spring, fall or winter!  

The dried out flower head can actually look quite pretty in the fall and even through the winter if you like the look! So you may choose to leave your finished blooms on your shrub until late winter or early spring.

If you aren't sure how to prune your hydrangea's, I find that it's best to wait until early spring so you can see the new growth starting.  At this point, you will only be removing the dead branches from the previous growing season.  You can trim the old growth down to the new growth ball, making your old stems even with your new growth.  This is a simple way to see how far down to cut the old growth stems!  Who doesn't love a simple life hack?  

If your plant is new, you may want to leave them alone without pruning for 1-2 seasons to help get them established.  This is particularly true for smooth hydrangea's like Annabelle or Incrediball.  These hydrangeas grow new blooms on old and new growth so you can choose to prune to the ground or you can leave them be and hope for larger plants.  

If you have a climbing hydrangea, it is unlikely that you will be pruning them!  They will produce new blooms on the vines grown from previous seasons, so let them grow and train them where  you want them to climb by tying vines to a trellis or fence. 

Here's to Happy Hydrangea's!