The cream-white blooming snowball hydrangea “Annabelle” with its large, ball-shaped flowers is a beautiful eye-catcher that also thrives in shady gardens. In contrast to farmer's hydrangeas, snowball hydrangeas bloom on new wood, which is why heavy pruning in spring makes sense.
How do I cut a hydrangea “Annabelle” correctly?
To prune the viburnum hydrangea “Annabelle”, you should shorten all shoots to 15-20 cm above the ground in March or April, leaving around 3-5 eyes. It promotes lush flowering and continuous flowering throughout the summer.
Snowball hydrangeas: pruning in spring
Hydrangeas are usually divided into two groups with regard to pruning measures: The first group blooms on old, previous year's wood and should therefore under no circumstances be cut back in spring. The second group, which also includes the snowball hydrangeas, bloom on this year's new wood and should therefore be pruned vigorously in spring. The shade-tolerant viburnum hydrangea “Annabelle” can even be cut back almost to the ground. This results in a more lush floral display with particularly large flower balls. However, moderate pruning is sufficient, especially for younger specimens. When cutting, it is best to proceed as follows:
- Use sharp and clean secateurs (€14.00 on Amazon).
- Cleanliness is particularly important so that any germs or fungi cannot penetrate the open cuts.
- Now cut off all shoots except for approx. 15 to 20 centimeters above the ground.
- This should leave about three to five eyes behind.
- The hydrangea is sprouting new flowers from these eyes.
The snowball hydrangea “Annabelle” should be pruned from March, but no later than April. This measure is particularly important if the old shoots have frozen back in winter. Dead plant parts and frozen shoots not only look unsightly, but also offer the best living conditions for fungi and viruses.
Care cut if necessary
To promote continuous flowering, you should always cut off everything that has faded. Once the flowers have been pollinated, the plant produces seeds and essentially uses its energy for this purpose. This comes at the expense of further flowering. However, if it is prevented from doing so by continually removing the dead inflorescences, the plant will continue to produce new flowers over a longer period of time. If you cut back some of the shoots again around mid-June, the flowering will be delayed overall - after all, "Annabelle" blooms from June onwards - but it will last until September. Regularly cutting out everything that has finished flowering also stimulates further flowering, with “Annabelle” blooming very nicely. As they fade, the creamy white flowers turn light green and last for a very long time.
Tips & Tricks
By the way, the hydrangea seeds are hidden in the inner, fertile flower part - the magnificent flowers that we like so much about hydrangeas are just barren show flowers. That's why you shouldn't rely on seeds to propagate the “Annabelle” snowball hydrangea, but instead rely on cuttings. Propagation by division also usually works very well.
