When is the best time to prune Hydrangeas and how?

By the way I live in the middle of the East coast of the US (North Carolina).

When is the best time to prune Hydrangeas and how?
Most of the task of caring for Hydrangeas is done in the late winter or early spring before new growth starts.





Pruning hydrangeas is one of those tasks everyone tries to avoid resulting in the job rarely being done well, and always too late, if at all.





You say, "My bush is always covered in flowers so why bother pruning?"





If left un-pruned, the bush will produce a large number of flower heads the size of a tennis ball, all supported on old thin stems that bend to the ground as soon as the flowers get wet. Prune the bush correctly and the result is the number of flower heads are reduced by about a quarter but their size is far greater. The bush ends up the same size, completely covered in flowers, but now they stand up on strong healthy stems.





The theory of this task is easy:





Remove all dead wood.


Remove thin, crossing or weak stems.


Reduce quantity of old stems by a third.


Reduce height of taller stems to form nice shape.





Finally, give a generous scattering of bonemeal around the plant





Hydrangeas are relatively trouble free plants during the Summer months. Early in the growing season they may be attacked by aphids, but the ladybirds soon move in to devour this little problem.





Water is this plants greatest requirement during the Summer. Water, water, water. Lots of water at regular intervals. If this plant runs dry while in flower, the blooms will be disfigured for the rest of the season.





While the plant is actively growing, a scattering of fast-acting fertilizer such as Growmore applied every 6 weeks or so will help it to become robust and healthy.
Reply:Prune down to a fat set of buds all stems that have flowered leave the branches that haven't had flowers these will flower this coming year. I usually leave mine to after the last frost at the start of spring. Hope this helps.
Reply:you never prune hydrangeas, pick the flowers off once they dry out. if you prune them they will not flower the next summer, but yet the following.
Reply:I know NOTHING about gardening, but thought you might like to know I always savage mine very early Spring because it overgrows into the path. Every year I cut it back to the point where I think I might have killed it, and every year I cannot get the past by mid/late summer. Nightmare.
Reply:What I am going to suggest, I would not recommend unless you are very brave.





For the last six years I have just mowed mine down to the ground. I wait until early winter to do this. Not only do we have the most beautiful hydrangeas in our entire area the flowers are huge. The largest one I have measured was 19" across. We have people come by to photograph them and want to buy them for drying. It wasn't until the third year that I realized that they are truly something special. Of course everyone wants to know how I did it. They are all very surprised at my answer.





Remember I am not recommending this to you.
Reply:"celtictygerenchantress" has definetly hit the nail on the head. I have several hydrangeas and I sre all the same comments that she gave.





Good luck
Reply:You obviously live in a frost free area, otherwise your Hydrangeas would be sticks by now.





In South Africa we prune our hydrangeas at around the mid to end of winter, when the stem sap is lowest, but if your hydrangeas are still green, it might be a good idea to prune them intermittantly. I cut mine down to 30cm stems every year and they grow very well in the summer. Proof: www.webshots.com look for "vichaven" - I posted some photos there.