Farmer hydrangeas have a mind of their own when it comes to growth and flowering. Therefore, please do not fall victim to the fallacy of lumping all hydrangeas into one pot when it comes to pruning care. What is optimal with a panicle hydrangea results in floral disaster with a garden hydrangea. This tutorial invites you to familiarize yourself with the perfect pruning of farmer's hydrangeas. Read all the information about the right time, sensible types of cuts and expert cutting here.
When and how do I cut farmer's hydrangeas correctly?
Farmer hydrangeas are best cut in spring, shortly before budding. Remove withered flower heads and thin out oldest scaffold shoots and weak, bare ground shoots. Unbranched, annual ground shoots remain uncut. Modern varieties can be shortened more.
Why does it make sense to cut farmer's hydrangeas?
There is uncertainty among home gardeners about the correct way to cut farmer's hydrangeas. For fear of damaging the nostalgic flower beauties, pruning of hydrangeas is often abandoned altogether. In fact, secateurs should be used at least once a year. The following table provides a brief overview of the reasons for which it is advisable to cut Hydrangea macrophylla:
| Cut style | Goal/Occasion |
|---|---|
| Development and upbringing section | controlled growth in a pot or when there is a lack of space |
| Blending cut | Promoting vitality and flowering |
| Rejuvenation cut | revitalize old shrub |
| Conservation cutting modern varieties | Pruning care from Endless summer and Co. |
Another cutting option is out of the ordinary in terms of timing and procedure. We're talking about cutting farmer's hydrangeas into vases to decorate the home with their huge flower balls. This tutorial leaves no questions unanswered for this cut variant either.
Best cutting date is in spring
A farmer's hydrangea lays out its structures for next year's flower festival the previous year, including the leaf and shoot buds. This property significantly influences the choice of date for a cut. To ensure that the valuable buds do not fall victim to the scissors, spring is the best time. Shortly before budding between the beginning/mid-February and the beginning of March, even home gardeners with little experience can clearly identify the terminal flower systems and exercise appropriate caution when making cuts.
Tip
In gardens with a risk of delayed ground frost, the prudent home gardener should have a garden fleece ready until mid/end of May. If meteorologists report frost at night, a farmer's hydrangea should be protected from frostbite on the shoot tips. This is especially true if the ornamental shrub has been cut.
Secondary cutting – disciplined growth in a pot or small garden
If a farmer's hydrangea has at least 150 centimeters of space available, a harmonious structure will naturally develop. In small gardens or containers, there is the option of adjusting growth to the lack of space right from the start. You can do this by limiting the number of ground shoots as part of training. How to do it right:
- During the first 3 to 4 years of growth, build a framework with 10 to 15 ground shoots in the bed
- Grow 7 to 10 scaffolding shoots in the bucket
- Cut off excess ground shoots at the base
In the development phase, the annual, unbranched ground shoots remain uncut because they bear the most beautiful flowers in summer. In the spring of the fourth year at the latest, training leads to the following thinning cut. Please note that a farmer's hydrangea is not suitable for growing into a standard plant. The panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata), which are much easier to cut, are ideal for this design.
Careful cutting is the key – instructions for the thinning cut
A single ground shoot of your farmer's hydrangea remains willing to bloom and vital for up to 4 years. During this phase and afterwards it branches noticeably, the flowers lose volume and the branch hangs arched down to the ground. You can counteract this development with gentle pruning so that the flowering bush continues to thrive young and vibrant even after many years. This is how the exemplary thinning cut works:
- Cut off all wilted flower heads
- Place the scissors over the new, round, thick flower buds
- Cut away a quarter of the oldest scaffold shoots at ground level
- Leave an appropriate number of annual ground shoots uncut as replacement
- Remove weak, inward-facing or criss-crossing ground shoots
In the last step of the thinning cut, focus on the remaining three quarters of the scaffolding shoots. By the time they are 2 to 4 years old, they have already flowered at least once and developed several side branches. You can trace an aging hydrangea branch to the most promising one-year-old side shoot. With this cutting technique, you cut off the old wood at the junction of the young shoot. The figure below illustrates the various steps of a thinning cut.
Cut off the wilted flower heads above the next pair of buds. Cut off aged ground shoots at the base. Unbranched, annual ground shoots remain uncut. Strongly branched, perennial branches are derived from a vital, annual side shoot.
Rejuvenate old farmer's hydrangea - this is how it works
Without regular thinning, farmer's hydrangeas will age within a few years. With a rejuvenating cut you can awaken the outdated ornamental shrub from its slumber. The following strategy has proven to work well in practice:
- Examine the shrub thoroughly for overwintering wild animals and, if necessary, cut it later
- According to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, carry out the cutting measure before March 1st
- Cut off all bare shoots at ground level
- Cut back ground shoots that are not bare by one to two thirds
- Place the scissors 0.5 cm above a pair of leaves or a sleeping eye
- Enrich the root disc with 3 liters of compost and 100 grams of horn shavings per square meter
There is no cause for alarm if a rejuvenation cut leaves few or no shoots. Organic fertilizer and regular watering will get the growth going again. The following year you move on to the build-up or thinning cut. If, despite your efforts, no new shoots form, the farmer's hydrangea is completely exhausted and should be cleared.
All aged, dead ground shoots are cut off at the base. Unbranched young shoots remain standing. If there are no annual soil shoots, adding compost will stimulate growth.
Special case: Endless summer & Co. – courageous maintenance cut
Competent breeders have managed to grow modern farmer's hydrangea varieties that bloom on both last year's and this year's shoots. The 'Endless summer' series opened the series of new varieties, followed by further innovations such as 'Forever &Ever', 'Everbloom' and 'Double Star'. The more flexible growth behavior opens up more scope in the design of pruning care, as the figure below shows.
It is your horticultural decision to shorten new farmer's hydrangea varieties more heavily in spring. This is particularly recommended if a harsh winter or delayed ground frosts have damaged the shoots. At the age of 3 to 4 years, ground shoots should be thinned out to make room for fresh wood. Withered inflorescences should also be cleaned out on the new varieties every spring to make it easier for the new buds to develop.
Flowered flowers are removed down to the next pair of buds or further down. Older ground shoots have to give way. Direct two- and three-year-old shoots to a lower, one-year-old side shoot.
Summer cleaning is rewarded with rebloom
Endless summer and other modern varieties have the potential to bloom again. If you clean out the first flower pile after it has faded, these farmer's hydrangeas will produce beautiful flowers again. If you combine this flower care with the addition of compost and horn shavings, you will optimize the prospects of colorful re-blooming in late summer.
Cutting farmer's hydrangeas for the vase - this is how it works
The right time to cut the vase guarantees that the beautiful branches of a farmer's hydrangea will decorate your home for many weeks. If you cut the shoots too early or place the woody stems in the water without being processed, the romantic beauties will hang their heads sadly after just a few days. How to do it right:
- The best time is in August, when the flowers become firmer
- Cut out a maximum of a third of the shoots from a hydrangea bush
- Place scissors or knife over a pair of leaves or a sleeping eye
- Cut the green stem end diagonally, split the woody stem end
- Remove any leaves that could be in the water
Please do not tap a woody flower stem with a hammer to soften it. This destroys the important pathways that are supposed to transport water to the flower. Replace the water every 3 to 4 days and use this opportunity to trim the stems.
Frequently asked questions
Frost damage to my farmer's hydrangea - what to do?
A harsh winter puts every farmer's hydrangea to a tough test, because the younger shoot tips in particular are not completely hardy. If the branches freeze back, this is no reason to clear the affected ornamental shrub. When you recognize the full extent of the frost damage at the end of February/beginning of March, cut the brown, often limp shoots back to he althy wood. Place the scissors just above a pair of he althy buds.
How can you tell whether a hydrangea branch is dead or not?
Woody hydrangea shoots cannot always be seen at first glance as to whether they belong to deadwood or whether there is still hope of sprouting. With a simple vitality test you can clear up any doubts. To do this, scrape a little bark off the hydrangea branch in question. If juicy green tissue appears, the shoot is spared from the scissors. Yellowish to brown tissue indicates that the branch is dead and can be thinned out.
The withered flowers bother me. Can I clean out a farmer's hydrangea in the fall?
It is your individual decision as to when you remove the withered inflorescences of a farmer's hydrangea. If you find the brown, parchment-like balls annoying, cut them off just above the next pair of he althy buds or a branch. You will then carry out the actual thinning cut as planned in February. You can then use this opportunity to remove damaged shoot tips that have had to forego the natural winter protection of dead hydrangea flowers and have frozen back.
Are farmer's hydrangeas poisonous?
All hydrangea species contain the glycoside hydrangin and other toxins. Intentional or unintentional ingestion of plant parts can result in typical symptoms of poisoning, ranging from dizziness to nausea and vomiting. Frequent contact with the plant sap can also cause skin allergies. Hydrangeas can be poisonous not only to humans, but also to animals such as dogs, cats, guinea pigs and rabbits.
The 3 most common cutting mistakes
If pruning farmer's hydrangeas does not produce the desired result, the gardener has become the victim of a misunderstanding. The 3 most common mistakes when cutting farmer's hydrangeas are listed in the following table with tips for effective prevention:
| Error | Result | Prevention/Correction |
|---|---|---|
| Farmer hydrangea cut like panicle and ball hydrangea | Failure of the next flowering period | Just clean out and thin out farmer's hydrangeas |
| cut in autumn | Frost damage to the unprotected shoot tips | ideally cut in spring |
| never cleaned up and lightened | prematurely senescent hydrangea with sparse growth and few flowers | remove wilted flowers and thin out dead wood every year |
Tip
This tutorial also applies to the plate hydrangea (Hydrangea serrata), the velvet hydrangea (Hydrangea sargentiana), the oak leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) and the popular climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris). These hydrangea species do the same thing as the farmer's hydrangea. They plant all types of buds the previous year for flowers, leaves and fresh shoots.
