Are You Supposed To Cut Back Hydrangeas? - World Of Garden Plants

Hi, friends! Today I will tell you whether it is worth pruning hydrangeas.

⚡QUICK ANSWER: Pruning hydrangeas is not a mandatory requirement. However, after pruning, they become more vigorous and bloom better.

Table of Contents

1. Cut old wood after flowering
2. Hydrangeas will grow well without pruning
3. After pruning, the plants grow more vigorously

Cut old wood after flowering

Most varieties of hydrangeas lose their leaves in the late fall and look dead throughout winter. There are called deciduous varieties. Others keep their leaves year-round.

There are many different varieties of hydrangeas. Some will flower on both old and new wood, whereas others will only bloom on new or old wood. Most varieties of hydrangeas should be pruned because it increases their growth and health.

Age	Recognized by	When to cut back
Old	Hard, sturdy stems with thick, layered bark	Immediately after flowering, if at all, before new buds grow.
New	Soft, weak stems, with only small amounts of bark if any	Any time of year.

Flowers that grow on old wood

Old wood can be recognized by rigid and strong stems. They have old looking bark on them that is often layered. They will be browner in color. This is compared with new wood, which is green, has very little bark, and the stems are soft and weak.

All varieties of hydrangea can be cut back all the way to ground level, and still grow back again.

Flowers for a hydrangea grow from buds. The buds remain on the plant all throughout the winter. Buds grow very shortly after the current year’s flowers shrivel and fall off.

So if you want to cut off the old wood, you should do so immediately after flowering before the new buds form. This will ensure you don’t cut off the next year’s flowers. That way you will have flowers the following year.

Flowers that grow on new wood

New wood is the current season’s growth. Cut these stems at any time, but only after the flowers have bloomed.

Don’t cut a hydrangea all the way back!

If you cut it all the way back, the next season’s growth won’t be as large. This is why many people decide to prune their hydrangeas to preserve the size of the plant.

Old-growth should be cut back after flowering when the flowers begin to brown and wilt. You can recognize this by flowers that come out from an old stem. Any very old stems should be cut off to ground level. This will increase the growth and health of the plant.

Use your judgment in regard to which branches are very old. They can be easily recognized by where you can see where you have pruned them back many seasons prior. They will also have many layers of old looking dry bark.

Hydrangeas will grow well without pruning

If you don’t prune hydrangeas, they will flower just fine. But, the volume and appearance of the flowers won’t be as good as if you prune it. Pruning reduces the number of resources the plant needs.

This causes more energy and nutrients to be available to the plant. This increased energy gets put into the remaining growth. This causes the flowers to appear fuller, larger, and as a result, more beautiful.

After pruning, the plants grow more vigorously

After pruning, the hydrangea will focus more energy on creating flower buds rather than stems. As a result, the following year you will get lush blooms in large quantities. At the same time, the size of the hydrangea bush will increase only slightly.

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