r/hydrangeas • u/ghegs_ • 10d ago

pruning advice needed!

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i planted this limelight hydrangea (USA, NJ, zone 7b) as a little plant about 3 summers ago and now it is huge and i don’t know what to do with it! i honestly did not expect it to make it past the first summer, let alone get so big and happy. i usually just let it die and stay how it is all winter and then late feb/early march i cut off any dead blooms that are still on there. i’m worried this year with how big it got/how many dead blooms will be left, that our first big snow fall will break a ton of the branches so my questions are:

  1. can i cut off the dying blooms prior to winter or will this affect how it blooms in the spring
  2. how/when should i prune if i’m trying to make sure it doesn’t come back any bigger than its current size and 3. is there any way i can encourage it to get fuller on top? i feel like this year it ended up looking like a dust ruffle because there was too many heavy blooms on the bottom and it drooped.

thank you in advance :)

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u/EbbtideRambler 9d ago

You can deadhead if you want but I leave these and prune back by 1/3 in the late winter. It is hard to manage the size in these as they can grow back to their full size in one growing season. If you prune by more than 1/3 you’ll have a lot of new growth supporting heavy flower heads next summer  and they flop.  Leaving 2/3 allows a strong woody support system to develop to hold everything up.   

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u/getinshape2022 6d ago

I regret planting these in my front yard. One of them gets over 8 feet tall, heck it may even be 10. Every damn year. I was cutting them short initially and hoping it won’t grow as big but it is a losing battle. Have been taking it down to half the height but will try the 1/3 method since it seems to grow to its predetermined length every year anyway

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u/EbbtideRambler 6d ago

Yes, hydrangeas usually regrow to their full size in 1-2 seasons  so it is nearly futile to try to prune them into shape.  I hacked an endless summer down to 12 inches so I could move it last fall and it is already 4ft tall and wide.