hydrangea pruning - Ask Extension
3 years ago , I chopped my hydrangea down and during the summer it bloomed beautifully. I did not prune after that summer -the brown blooms were beaut...
Knowledgebase
hydrangea pruning #924617
Asked February 15, 2026, 9:42 PM EST
3 years ago , I chopped my hydrangea down and during the summer it bloomed beautifully. I did not prune after that summer -the brown blooms were beautiful, so I did not prune. It came up full of green leaves , but no blooms. So I need to know what to do now- the bush is a transplant from My aunt’s hydrangea in CT- it was just a bare root & I do not know what type it is.Thank you.
Carroll County Maryland
Expert Response
Based on the foliage and flower type pictured, this is a Bigleaf (macrophylla) type of hydrangea. They bloom on old growth (stems that are at least one year old) and sometimes also on new growth (stems less than one year old). Only some varieties of Bigleaf Hydrangea can bloom on new growth (called rebloomers, since this trait allows them to bloom several times over the course of a year), so without knowing the variety name of this plant, it's hard to say which this is. If you had previously pruned all the stems back to within a few inches of the ground and it still flowered in summer, it might be one of those reblooming types, where it started flowering later than usual due to having lost all of its first set of flower buds and needing time to regrow more.
Since all Bigleaf Hydrangeas bloom on old wood, though, it's best to avoid pruning the branches back from autumn through spring, since that would remove buds the plant cannot replace. Other than occasional thinning by removing some extra branches if the shrub becomes too dense and crowded, no routine pruning is usually needed with these plants. If desired, pruning can be done just after the flowers are fading in summer, which is the window of opportunity for shortening stems without removing the next set of flower buds, which will form in either late summer or early autumn for the following year's blooms. Our Pruning Hydrangeas web page has a bit more info.
Since some of the buds present on the stems right now are flower buds, we suggest you not prune the plant until later this summer (if you wanted...it's not necessary to trim it). Other reasons aside from ill-timed pruning for the lack of flowers on Bigleaf Hydrangeas can be due to drought stress (last year we were notably dry...still are, in fact), deer having eaten the buds before they could open (they will eat hydrangeas if given the chance), a late spring frost having killed the buds before they could open, or too much shade if the plant is near a tree or taller shrub that has grown and cast more shade on its foliage over the years.
Miri
Since all Bigleaf Hydrangeas bloom on old wood, though, it's best to avoid pruning the branches back from autumn through spring, since that would remove buds the plant cannot replace. Other than occasional thinning by removing some extra branches if the shrub becomes too dense and crowded, no routine pruning is usually needed with these plants. If desired, pruning can be done just after the flowers are fading in summer, which is the window of opportunity for shortening stems without removing the next set of flower buds, which will form in either late summer or early autumn for the following year's blooms. Our Pruning Hydrangeas web page has a bit more info.
Since some of the buds present on the stems right now are flower buds, we suggest you not prune the plant until later this summer (if you wanted...it's not necessary to trim it). Other reasons aside from ill-timed pruning for the lack of flowers on Bigleaf Hydrangeas can be due to drought stress (last year we were notably dry...still are, in fact), deer having eaten the buds before they could open (they will eat hydrangeas if given the chance), a late spring frost having killed the buds before they could open, or too much shade if the plant is near a tree or taller shrub that has grown and cast more shade on its foliage over the years.
Miri
