To remove the dead flowers, you don’t have to be as cautious as to when working with the old wood varieties. 3 Answers. Although you can deadhead any time, only do additional pruning before mid-July. it sounds like the new blooms are growing in old wood with dead blooms on top. Should I now cut these off … patricia. Though hydrangea leaves are pretty, they should all be trimmed off a bloom. Although hydrangea pruning care differs, all hydrangeas can benefit from the removal of dead stems and spent blooms each year. The most popular hydrangea species bloom on old wood, including bigleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) that thrive in USDA hardiness zones 6 through 9. Remove dead or crossing stems. General Hydrangea Pruning Instructions & Deadheading Tips. Am I suppose to cut off the blooms that already produced flowers and are now looking dead? If the sticks were just cut off, so where the flower buds. Thin out weak stems to control shape and size. STRIP THE LEAVES OFF OF CUT HYDRANGEA STEMS. In areas where early, heavy snow is possible people sometimes clip off the flowers so that they don't pull the plant to the ground early in the winter. General Hydrangea Pruning Instructions & Deadheading Tips. General Removal of Dead Hydrangea Blooms. Pruning hydrangea bushes is not necessary unless the shrubs have become overgrown or unsightly. In August, deadhead by cutting the stem above the first set of large leaves or by just taking off the bloom. Grow Salad Greens All Winter For Less Than 20 Dollars | Gardening Tips | Roots and Refuge - Duration: 15:03. You can cut the flower stems to any length in June or July without worrying if they will come back next year. Pruning hydrangea bushes is not necessary unless the shrubs have become overgrown or unsightly. Hydrangea macrophylla blooms on last year’s wood. lets just hope for lots of flowers. I would leave everything. Regards, Carol Quish Flowers that bloom on … Cut these stems close to the ground. Spent blooms or deadhead hydrangeas need to be cut when the flowers fade. Clip the dead hydrangea blooms, along with a portion of the stem, using the garden clippers during the fall months of October through early November or after the blooming season has ended, and flower heads have turned brown. With a plant such as a continuous blooming rose, you should stop cutting spent flowers in September, allowing them to wither and dry on the bush. Hydrangea petiolaris: You do this with small shears or garden sissors just below the bloom. Because it blooms only on new wood, you can just cut it back to the ground in late winter, before any new buds appear. The leaves are big water drinkers and will steal it from the blooms. Now if you … Relevance. 10 years ago. Answer Save. The most popular hydrangea species bloom on old wood, including bigleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) that thrive in USDA hardiness zones 6 through 9. If you try to go in and start cutting away the old flowers after August it might impact the number of blossoms you get the following year. Depending on the bloom cycle of your plant -- some hydrangeas bloom on new wood, some on old -- pruning out dead wood and stems may not even delay a hydrangea's summer bloom. Panicle Hydrangea. Although you can deadhead any time, only do additional pruning before mid-July. Favorite Answer. Clip off a stem that is dead due to damage at its base with long-handled loppers or hand pruners as soon as you notice it. Examine the stem where it meets the larger branch – there should be small buds there. They never need to be pruned. This article has a very good reason to stop removing dead flowers before the onset of winter. You can safely remove spent blooms anytime. They will also steal water from the flower part and shorten the life of a cut flower. Although hydrangea pruning care differs, all hydrangeas can benefit from the removal of dead stems and spent blooms each year. When pruning a hydrangea that blooms on old wood, first remove any dead limbs, then crossing branches, thinning out the interior of the plant to open it to more sunlight. Once the bloom is cut, which should be cut on a diagonal, the hydrangea should be immersed in water for two hours. When to remove the dead hydrangea flowers is based on the type you have. Deadheading in this case is done in late spring, when growth begins, when you remove all dead material, including flowers. So because they bloom both on old and new wood, these hydrangeas can be cut back at any time. When you bring hydrangeas inside make sure you strip off the leaves from each hydrangea stem. In general, you want to remove the dead blooms to improve the appearance of the plant as well as to promote fresh growth. The method for deadheading hydrangea blooms depends upon the time of year. for you the directions say to wait for new blooms to open then pull off the old ones. To prune overgrown flowers on your hydrangea, use a pair of pruning shears to cut the brown, dead spots away from faded or wilting flowers away. Cut the stem back as short as you like, making sure to leave those buds intact. If your hydrangea is one of the newer varieties bred to flower on old and new wood both, it is possible those buds you see now might be a flower bud. Hydrangea paniculata (Pee Gee or Panicle Hydrangeas) Prune this Hydrangea in late winter to keep the plants from becoming overgrown and encourage more new growth, more flower buds, and larger blooms.