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| This my first time back on the GW site in well over a year.
(My daughter was in the hospital and spent months recovering from massive infections). Feels good to see familiar names here...like visiting wise friends. But it's Spring and time to dust off the cobwebs in my gardening brain. A couple of questions...please ? 1. Sweet Autumn Clementis - Ok to trim off all last year's dead growth, but how far down can I trim?? 2. Hydrangea bushes - ok to trim, but how far down? Hopefully, the rest will come back to me as I didn't have time last year and let all my perennials do their thing. Thanks, Jan |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Apr 10, 11 at 18:33
| it is my plan.. every year.. to basically cut the ASC to about 6 inches ... it never happens ... but it can take a very hard pruning .... i think i saw once reference to cutting it to 6 inches ... welcome back ... my hydrangea [the typical easter plant] takes winter damage .... and i never prune.. until i know what is living .... and once the buds start swelling.. i take the branch down to 2 or 3 good buds ... its not worth.. in my z5.. to allow them to get too much bigger... since next winter will knock them back down ... they still make a nice 2 to 3 foot bundle of love ... and if the common name means i am not talking about the plant you have ... well???? i used to enjoy throwing acid [muracid] on one side .. and having a half blue.. and half pink plant ... was it acid .. or copper nails.. help me peeps ... i might like to mystify the kids this summer .... good luck ken |
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| Hmmm - 1/2 blue and half pink...interesting. Have to try that. Thx!!! A couple of my Hydragea's (with big off-white bon-bons) were given to me by a neighbor that didn't speak English well, so we aren't sure of the variety. But it has green buds up and down all the stems (branches). Should be able to cut back and hopefully have it prosper in our lovely Chicago summer. |
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| I do the same with aluminum sulfate. Ends up with some pink, purplish and a little blue. |
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| Redsox...love the blue especially. Think I remember someone telling me about aluminum sulfate, but don't know where to get it. |
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| Hope your daughter is OK. Our thoughts are with you. Hydrangea - depends on which type you have. If you have the traditional early summer shrub, do NOT prune. Otherwise you will be cutting off the buds. If you have the type that blooms in late summer (paniculatas), then it's ok to prune - this is similar to a rose of sharon. If you're not sure, don't prune and watch when it blooms. |
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| I cut my sweet autumn clematis to the ground each spring and it never fails to become a monster by fall. As others have said it depends on which hydrangeas you have to determine timing of pruning. I don't really prune hydrangea all that much unless I want to keep them at a certain size or there was winter damage. |
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| Welcome back and wishing your daughter good healing! 1. SAC you've gotten pretty complete answers 2. Hydrangea - If it's just spring blooming like most of the H. Macrophylla (like 'Nikko Blue') don't prune until after blooming and then just for size or to remove dead wood. I can't grow these because those spring flower buds get killed, so no flowers. If it's summer blooming (on new wood) then you can whack it back as much as it needs to be; many of mine get cut to a few inches due to winter damage from cold, snow, or voles. These would include the relatively few H. macrophylla that rebloom (such as 'Endless Summer', 'Penny Mac', 'All Summer Beauty'); all of the H. paniculata ('Pee Gee', 'Quick Fire', 'Pink Diamond', 'Tardiva', 'Limelight' and 'Pinky Winky' to name some of the common ones); and all of the H. arborescens ('Annabelle', 'Incrediball', 'Hayes Starburst,' and 'Incredibelle Spirit.') Usually my arborescens and my reblooming macrophyllas need pruning back but my paniculatas don't since they seem less susceptible to damage. |
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