In this article, I’ll be teaching you how to prune Panicle Hydrangeas. So keep reading!
The flowers on Panicle Hydrangeas have a cone shape, this is different from the ball-shaped mop-heads and flattened lace-caps.
When the flowers start blooming, they have a white/cream looking color. As they grow, the color changes to what you can call pinkish.
The blossoms on a Panicle Hydrangea usually dry out throughout the winter season, and they hang on the shrub. These will look beautiful in your garden.
Some people may not like the look of hanging, brown-colored flowers, but that’s not a problem, as you can easily prune them off.
Panicle Hydrangeas usually grow very tall. They can reach a height of about 10 feet tall at full maturity.
Pruning Panicle Hydrangeas
These species of Panicle Hydrangeas thrive in a wide range of climates, even very cold ones. This makes them a popular choice for garden keepers, as they are very easy to care for and will survive in any season.
Panicle Hydrangeas need a few hours of direct sunlight, as do most garden plants. However, to get the best results you should plant them in an area where they will receive maximum sunlight.
This is in contrast to the mop-head hydrangeas that require only a little bit of sunlight to thrive.
When to Prune Panicle Hydrangeas
Panicle Hydrangeas are known for blooming on new wood, making them very easy to prune.
They can be pruned just about any season of the year without being harmed. Summer is an exception though. This is because late summer is their blooming season, and pruning them at this time will mean cutting off most of their flowers.
Late winter is the preferred season for pruning. At this time it will have fewer leaves so you will have a better view of the branches, therefore have better access to the inner parts of the plant.
They do not require pruning every year, but it is recommended that you take off 1/3 of its oldest branches annually. This will keep your plant at its very best health.
Why Prune Panicle Hydrangeas
Panicle Hydrangeas are pruned for several reasons. A few of them are listed below.
- For artistic reasons (to give them a more beautiful figure)
- To control its growth
- To remove any dead flowers on the plant
- To cut off any branches that cross
- To rid the plant of any diseased branches and stems
Tree Form Panicle Hydrangeas
One of the most unique features of a Panicle Hydrangea is that it is the only species of hydrangeas that can be pruned into a tree-like shape. To give it a tree-shape, you have to start training the plant when it is young.
The nursery is in the best position to do this, not the home gardener. If you want a tree-shaped Panicle Hydrangea, then it best you buy from the nursery.
When you’ve purchased your tree-shaped Panicle Hydrangea, then you must form a habit of regular pruning to maintain its shape. If you miss out on pruning for just a year, you will find that the top of the plant would have become so large and the branches would have bent downwards.
Overgrown branches are very hard to prune back into the former tree-shaped form. Panicle Hydrangeas, as I have said earlier, are easy to maintain, but keeping the tree-shaped form stands as an exception.
Prune carefully, be sure not to prune out the top branches or worse still, cut the trunk! Doing this will cause the plant to produce new growth at the base, thereby losing the preferred tree shape.
Other Variations Of Hydrangeas
There are other variations of hydrangeas. Let us take a look at some of them below.
Bigleaf Hydrangeas
If you own big leaf hydrangeas, then you would have little to no stress when it comes to pruning. They require very little trimming, and this should be done just after flowering.
Do not prune in the winter or the spring. At this time, it would have set flower buds the previous year, and pruning it back will mean cutting off all the flowers from the summer.
Newer re-blooming species will also bloom during the current season’s growth, but you would still like to leave the plant intact through the spring season so you can enjoy the beauty of the early summer flowers.
Smooth Hydrangeas
The smooth hydrangeas are famed and adored for their ability to adapt and their beautiful blooms. The best time to prune this species is in late winter or early spring.
They bloom on new wood, which the growth in the current season. When they are pruned during this period, you encourage new flower-producing growth.
Pruning in the spring will also encourage a thicker, healthier plant, which will be strong enough to carry the weight of its many summer flowers.
To secure a good frame for the plant, you can cut the stems back to about two feet.
There are two new “Annabelle” Hydrangea arborescens, which have stronger stems, so there’s no chance of them flopping after being established.
Invincibelle Spirit II Hydrangea is the very first pink-flowered form of “Annabelle” known to man. It produces pink flowers all season up until frost. It gives your garden a beautiful display for many seasons, including mid-summer and the fall season.
Incrediball Hydrangea is known to have the biggest flowers and the strongest stems of any of the “Annabelle” hydrangeas species. It produces very large white blooms that can grow as big as a basketball.
Hardy Hydrangeas
The Hardy hydrangeas also bloom on new wood. The best time to prime this species is during late winter or early in the spring.
You can trim it back to the ground or prune it back to about three feet, that’s if you want it to grow taller.
This pruning is ideal for early spring. At this time, they are still dormant.
A newer variety of Panicle Hydrangea wouldn’t require as much pruning to keep it smaller. The Little Lime Hydrangea has the same colors and advantages as the ‘Limelight’ Hydrangea. Although it only reaches about five feet tall at full maturity.
At 1/3 of the so of similar hardy hydrangeas, it is a good fit for almost any type of landscape. Little lime gives off bright cone-shaped flowers that are light green. Later, they transform into pink-colored flowers. This occurs during mid-summer.
Luckily, these species are very forgiving to pruning at the wrong time of the year. Pruning at the wrong time of the year may cause them to lose their flowers for a season, but they’ll shoot back out the following season.
Knowing the type of hydrangea you have will determine the kind of pruning you will give them. Getting your pruning right will mean you will have healthy, beautiful hydrangeas in your garden all year round.
Other Panicle Hydrangeas Varieties and Care
The Panicle Hydrangeas listed below are easy to maintain and will help give your garden a unique look.
Bobo
This is a tiny species of hydrangea, but even with its small size it still has a lot of flowers. It produces white blossoms all through the summer and turns to pink during the fall season.
The soil acidity does not affect the color of the bloom of this species. This is unlike other varieties of hydrangeas.
Bobo hydrangeas thrive better in a loamy soil. It can still adapt well in other soil types
FireLight
The firelight species is a hardy plant, and growing it is as easy as can be. It doesn’t need much maintenance, yet it gives you healthy blooms that will last for a long time.
In the fall season, its flowers will make a change from white to red.
Little Lamb
The hydrangea species that produce the tiniest flowers are the little lamb species. The flowers are also very delicate so you must handle them with care.
It is hardy from zones 3 to 9, and it produces white flowers that transition to pink during the fall season.
It can grow to a height of up to 6 feet, which makes it a good choice for a border plant.
Little Lime Hydrangea
This species of hydrangea grows to a maximum height of 5 feet tall. It is smaller than the limelight hydrangea, but it still produces very well looking lime-colored blooms that turn pink during the fall season.
They are hardy from zones 3 to 9. They do very well in containers and landscapes.
Pinky Winky
These hydrangeas have a two-toned color. They bloom in pink and white colors during the mid-summer season to late summer.
They are hardy from zones 3 to 9 and they thrive in full sunlight to partial shade. They can also grow up to 8 feet at full maturity.
Conclusion
Pruning your Panicle Hydrangeas during the late winter and early spring seasons is recommended.
Be sure of the species you are buying so you can follow the best pruning practices.
I hope this article on how to prune Panicle Hydrangeas has been helpful.
Take care!
