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Prune hydrangeas now for abundant spring blooms

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED OCT 18, 2018

This lacecap hydrangea variety goes from lavender/white to green and red in fall. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Key to consistent flowering? Well-timed cuts

Why don’t hydrangeas bloom?

The answer almost always comes down to pruning, either at the wrong time or too much or not in a long time. For great masses of blooms next spring and summer, prune now.

Hydrangeas can be pruned while they still have their foliage or after they shed their leaves. Don’t wait past November; the bushes need a little time to recover before spring.

Most hydrangea varieties bloom on second-year wood. Those are stems that grew the season before. In late summer and fall, the stems form pointy buds at their nodes, found at the base of leaves. Those buds are next year’s mopheads and lacecaps.

Stems that bloomed this spring will bloom again. Keep those stems, cutting down by a third. Make the cut 1/2 inch above buds.

Hydrangea buds are visible at the base of the leaves.

Leave alone soft stems with lush green growth. They’re still developing.

After that, pruning is a matter of balance and air flow. Remove woody stems that have lost their vitality (they feel brittle and light) or that crowd the center of the bush. Avoid overpruning; the bush should be about one-third smaller than it began – not down to the ground.

At a minimum, deadhead hydrangeas, removing spent bloom heads. That retains the second-year wood and prompts bud development.

Cut now, hydrangea flower heads can be dried and used in wreaths of other decorations. Many varieties turn interesting shades of red or green, a perfect holiday combination.

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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