Can I Prune My Limelight Hydrangea in the Fall

November 12, 2018 | | Shrubs

Some people notice that their neighbor has trimmed their blue hydrangeas downwards past half in October. Others wonder if they need to cut the chocolate-brown flowers off their LimeLight or other Hydrangea paniculatas. Added to these questions is the confusion about when hydrangeas course their flowers, and how to prune them and then that the well-nigh flowers are produced every summertime. Here is what yous need to know:

1. Blue Hydrangeas don't get cut down in the autumn. If you lot do clip them back "to neaten them up" or "make them shorter" you lot'll have fewer flowers next yr but the plants will be only as tall. Mophead or lacecaps that go cut back will grow a green dome of foliage on the meridian and only a few flowers around the middle and bottom, as shown in the photo below. Then don't cut these back now, and in the leap the but pruning you'll want to do is to remove dead tips or canes. Prune in late-May by only removing canes or tops of the stems that have no green leaves at that time.

ii. Since Annabelle (1 of the Hydrangea arborescens varieties) and LimeLight or other panicle types (Hydrangea paniculata varieties) produce their flowers on new growth yous can prune them either in the tardily fall or early spring. Some people like to prune theirs now so that they remove the former, brownish flowers at the same time. You do non accept to remove the flowers…they intermission off and virtually blow away in the winter anyway. But if you don't like how they look there is no harm in cut them off at whatever point from at present until jump.

three. If your mophead or lacecap hydrangea is likewise alpine, programme on moving it elsewhere in April or May. There are many wonderful varieties that stay shorter and then plan on replacing the tall ane with a shorter cultivar next year.

4. Ane of the all-time things yous tin practice for mophead or lacecap hydrangeas now is to rake the leaves that have fallen under and effectually the plants; this helps go on the population of chilli thrips under control. Chilli thrips are a new pest that disfigures Hydrangea leaves. Read more most it here.

5. To print out our handout about pruning lacecap and mophead hydrangeas, click here.

This photograph shows 3 dissimilar types of hydrangeas in the fall. The plant on the left is an Annabelle – a multifariousness of the polish hydrangea, H. arborescens. The sticks on the right in the foreground are blueish mopheads, H. macrophylla. And backside those, in the background, is a 'Picayune Lime,' a H. paniculata. The Annabelle and the Little Lime bloom on new growth so these can get pruned at present, in late winter, or in the early spring. The macrophyllas are merely pruned by removing expressionless stems.

This is a Nikko Bluish Hydrangea that was cut downwards "to clean information technology up" in the fall. The canes were cut to about iii anxiety tall, and as yous tin can run into the shrub has grown dorsum to six feet tall and wide past the following July. At that place are only a few flowers considering that "clean up" pruning removed most of the buds.  If you prune your blueish hydrangeas down in the fall or spring you will take very few flowers. AND, it's impossible to brand them short again.

If yous want to cut the brown flowers off your hydrangeas at this time of year it won't hurt annihilation, but information technology does non have to be done. Some people are afraid that "snow and ice volition cling onto the flowers and spit or break the branches" but this isn't really a business concern. On the Cape and Islands we normally don't get heavy snows or ice storms in Dec while those flowers are still in place. It's very rare that these shrubs get damaged by snowfall, ice or cold.  We know you lot should "never say never" but in the 25 years that I have been on Cape Cod I've never heard anyone say that their panicle hydrangeas were damaged in the winter. So flower removal, or not, is upward to you. (Personally, I've never cut them off…they pause off in mid-winter and become "Cape Cod Tumble Weeds.")

If your hydrangea'southward leaves looked like this, exist sure to clean all the fallen foliage and droppings out from nether the shrubs. Chilli thrips, which caused this, overwinter in the droppings. Removing those leaves and keeping them out of the compost (fire or otherwise destroy) will help control this pest.

hanlonwhaters.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.hyanniscountrygarden.com/do-i-prune-my-hydrangeas-in-the-fall/

Share this post