Gardening expert reveals the crucial technique that will give you bigger hydrangea blooms next year – but warns one common mistake could ruin your flowers
Gardening expert reveals the crucial technique that will give you bigger hydrangea blooms next year – but warns one common mistake could ruin your flowers(Image: Catherine McQueen via Getty Images)
Spring is all about preparing your garden for a bountiful blooming season, and if you’ve got hydrangeas, now is the ideal time to get them in shape. Hydrangea owners are being urged to carry out a crucial task now to help bigger flowers bloom next year, but you need to stay alert, as pruning incorrectly could ruin next year’s flowers.
You want to ensure that you’re pruning your hydrangeas either in early spring or late winter. Gardening expert Michael Griffiths explained that there’s one piece of advice gardeners should be aware of when tending to hydrangeas. In a recent TikTok, he explained that some varieties of the flower already have next year’s flowers growing on “old wood”, reports the Express.
If you’re pruning your hydrangeas too vigorously, you could end up removing next year’s flowers in the process.
Michael explained in the video’s caption: “Pruning hydrangeas doesn’t have to be scary… you just need to know this one thing.
Snip the teams just above a healthy pair of buds(Image: Getty)
“If your hydrangea flowers on old wood, you’re looking at varieties like Hydrangea macrophylla (mophead & lacecap types).
“And here’s the key: They’ve already made next year’s flowers. So if you prune too hard at the wrong time… you’re literally cutting off your blooms.”
When dealing with macrophylla and oak leaf hydrangeas, you want to target any faded flowers left on the plant. Michael advised pruning the plant’s stems just above a pair of healthy buds. Next, eliminate one or two older stems at the base of the plant.
This will redirect energy to newer, healthier stems, stimulating the new buds to grow and blossom. Removing stems will also create space for new stems, bearing new hydrangea buds, to develop within the existing area.
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When pruning hydrangeas, you also aim to remove any dead, damaged or weak stems. Essentially, you want to be gentle when pruning hydrangeas to give it a “gentle tidy”.
Any rough chopping can lead to you losing next year’s flowers before they’ve even started to bloom.
The Royal Horticultural Society clarified that if you’ve spotted any frost damage on the plant come springtime, prune back affected shoots to just above the first undamaged pair of buds on healthy wood.
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