Hydrangeas are very easy to care for and delight gardeners with their ability to bloom. However, for many people, pruning garden beauty is a closed book. Should the hydrangea be cut back in spring or autumn or even in summer?
When and how should you cut hydrangeas in summer?
In summer, only spent flowers from hydrangeas should be carefully removed, either by cutting them out with clean rose scissors or by breaking out the flowers with your thumb and forefinger. Thinning out the branches allows more light inside the plant and promotes the formation of new flowers.
The cutting groups
The hydrangea is divided into different cutting groups according to the recommended cutting time. You can find out which cutting group the specimen you planted belongs to on the plant label.
Hydrangeas in cutting group 1 produce the flowers for the following year in the previous year. This is why these Hydrangea species should only be cut very lightly and carefully. For maximum flower abundance, you should thin out these plants slightly in spring.
Hydrangeas in cutting group 2 form the flowers on the new shoots. Like all classic summer bloomers, they are cut back in late autumn or early spring.
Exception Hydrangea “Endless Summer”
This hydrangea, which is very close to the classic farmer's hydrangea, produces flowers in the year it is pruned, unlike other farmer's hydrangeas. To ensure that this hydrangea blooms as early as possible, it should not be pruned too heavily in spring.
Care in summer
Remove the spent flowers from the blue hydrangea “Endless Summer” and the white hydrangea “The Bride” immediately after they have bloomed. Like summer flowers that bloom several times, these hydrangeas form new flowers on the same shoots, which open in the same year.
Carefully break out the faded flowers
You can remove dead flowers from all Hydrangea species during the summer. You can easily cut out the withered flowers with clean and sharp rose scissors (€22.00 on Amazon). However, for plant he alth, it is advisable to carefully break out the flower umbels.
- Grasp the flower above the base of the leaf with your thumb and forefinger.
- Carefully break away to the side.
In summer you can also thin out the branches a little so that more light penetrates into the inner area of the plant. This care measure has an extremely positive effect on the formation of new flowers.
Tips & Tricks
In general it can be said: the earlier your hydrangea blooms, the less often you should use scissors.
