The best time to prune your Endless Summer Hydrangeas is in the late winter or early spring. Here are a few tips on how to prune them.
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The Basics of Pruning Endless Summer Hydrangeas
Endless Summer hydrangeas are a type of hydrangea that bloom on new wood. This means that they can bloom multiple times throughout the growing season. Pruning is an important part of keeping these plants healthy and preventing them from getting too leggy. Let’s go over the basics of pruning endless summer hydrangeas.
Decide when to prune
Endless Summer hydrangeas bloom on both old and new wood. This means you can prune them any time of year without sacrificing flowers. However, if you want the best possible bloom, it’s best to prune in late winter or early spring, before new growth begins.
What tools to use
Pruning tools for Endless Summer hydrangeas include pruning shears, bypass pruners, loppers and long-handled hedge shears. You’ll need a stepladder if the bush is too tall to reach from ground level.
Pruning shears are the most common type of pruning tool and can be used for a variety of tasks such as deadheading, shaping and cutting small branches. Bypass pruners have two blades that slide past each other, making them ideal for cutting live branches up to about 1/2 inch in diameter. Loppers are similar to pruning shears but have much longer handles, which give you more leverage to cut through thicker branches. Hedge shears have long, serrated blades and are best suited for shaping hedges and topiary forms.
How to Prune
Endless Summer hydrangeas produce flowers on bothold and new wood. Most other hydrangeas only produce flowers onnew wood. This means that you can prune these shrubs almost anytimeand not worry about harming next season’s blooms.
Step-by-step guide
Endless Summer hydrangeas are a type of bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla). They are distinguished from other bigleaf hydrangeas by their ability to bloom on both old and new wood. This means they can bloom even if they are not pruned. However, pruning will encourage more vigorous growth and larger blooms.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to prune your Endless Summer hydrangeas:
1. First, you will need to identify the different types of wood on your plant. New wood is green and flexible, while old wood is brown and woody. You want to focus on cutting back the old wood, as this is where the majority of the bloom buds are located.
2. Next, you will need to cut back the stems that have flowered. Cut them back to about 6 inches above the ground.
3. Once you have cut back the flower stems, you can then start pruning the old wood. Cut these stems back by about one-third their length.
4. Finally, you can tidy up your plant by trimming away any dead or diseased wood.
What to do with the cuttings
Endless Summer hydrangeas bloom on both last year’s wood and new growth. Pruning in the late winter or early spring before the plant breaks dormancy helps to ensure that the plant will produce new growth, resulting in more flowers. You can save the pruned branches to use as cuttings to start new plants.
Select pruned branches that are 6 to 8 inches long. Look for healthy, disease-free wood that is not wilted or dried out. Cut the branch at a 45-degree angle just below a node, which is an area where leaves are attached.
Fill a planting pot with a well-draining potting mix such as perlite or sand. Place the cutting in the pot so that the end of the cutting that you made the 45-degree cut is buried in the potting mix. Water the potting mix thoroughly.
Set the pot in an area that receives indirect sunlight and has temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the soil moist but not soggy, watering as needed to keep it evenly moistened.
Roots will form on the buries portion of the cutting within four to eight weeks. Once roots have formed and new growth begins to appear, you can transplant the young plant into your garden.
After Pruning
Endless Summer hydrangeas are a type of deciduous shrub that is known for its large, showy flowers. The plant blooms on new wood, so it is important to prune it in early spring before the new growth begins.
Watering
Water your Endless Summer hydrangea deeply and slowly immediately after pruning to help the plant recover. Ensure the soil around your plant is moist but not soggy. The University of Minnesota Extension recommends watering slowly for about 30 minutes using a garden hose with a diffuser attachment to prevent water runoff.
Fertilizing
After pruning, it is important to fertilize your Endless Summer hydrangeas. This will help them to recover from the pruning and produce new growth. Use a well-balanced fertilizer that is specifically designed for flowering plants. Apply the fertilizer according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
