Happy Hydrangea!

by Diana Mead

Welcome to our gardening feature where Diana Greenwood Mead, our gardening expert answers your questions every week.

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This week France Normandeau has some questions for Diana about her Hydrangea:
Dear Diana,
I have several new small Hydrangeas and one that is older, beautiful but huge.
I think they are mop head varieties.
I would like to know when and how to prune them.
Can the huge plant be divided as it is starting to grow over the walkway.
Also, when should I fertilize them?
Thanks! France Normandeau

Hi France –
People always say of Hydrangeas "Oh you'll lose all the flowers" – well, no you won’t - I've done a lot of research in my gardening books, just to be sure I've got this right. The big one – the only one that needs pruning – if you want to keep it where it is, but have it fit in better, do the following:

Cut one half of it back by about half early in spring (once it's warm enough to for things generally to start growing), Cut into a good strong stem just above a pair of buds. Then much later in the year, once it has flowered, prune the other half in the same way – and by the following spring it should be much smaller and nice and bushy. You may have a few less flowers next year, but then it will come back as strong as ever.

As for fertilizing – use a good general purpose garden (or rose) fertilizer according to the instructions on the pack, two or three times a year after you've pruned it. Early summer and early autumn are the best times (depending on how long your growing season is; don't fertilize once growth slows down for the winter).
After that it should be a happy Hydrangea...
Happy horticulture,
Diana

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