Growing Hydrangeas

How to Plant, Grow, and Prune Hydrangeas

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With immense flower heads, hydrangeas flaunt an old-fashioned charm that is hard to resist. Unrivaled in the shrub world for beautiful flowers, the elegant ladies are easy to cultivate, tolerate almost any soil, and produce abundant blooms. Colors beguile with clear blues, vibrant pinks, frosty whites, lavender, and rose—sometimes all blooming on the same plant!

Hydrangeas are excellent for a range of garden sites from group plantings to shrub borders to containers. Varieties abound (every year, it seems, breeders present us with more options!), and gardeners’ expectations of bloom size and color are boundless. To know how your hydrangea will grow, pay attention to the types, defined below. When you know what to expect, delights will be magnified.

“How to change hydrangea flower color” is a common question from Almanac readers. Yes, the flowers of Bigleaf hydrangeas can change color based on the soil pH! Blues are best grown in acidic soil; pinks and reds do best in alkaline or neutral soil. We get into more detail below.

Planting

Most hydrangeas thrive in rich, porous, somewhat moist soils. Add compost to enrich poor soil.
They prefer full sun in the morning, with some afternoon shade; however, many will grow and bloom in partial shade. This is especially true for the Bigleaf hydrangeas.
Plant in spring or fall.
Dig a hole as deep as the root ball and 2 to 3 times as wide.
Set the plant in the hole and fill it half full with soil. Water. After water is drained, fill the rest of the hole with soil.
Water thoroughly.
Space multiple hydrangeas about 3 to 10 feet apart.

Pink hydrangea flowers

How to Grow Hydrangeas from Cuttings

Hydrangeas can easily be grown from cuttings. They root readily and the process makes for a great lesson in propagation. Here’s how to do it:

On a well-established hydrangea, find a branch that is new growth and that has not flowered. New growth will appear lighter in color than old growth, and the stem will not be as rigid.
From the tip of the branch, move 4 to 5 inches down and make a horizontal cut. Make sure that there are at least 3 to 4 pairs of leaves on your cutting.
Remove the lowest pair of leaves from the cutting, trimming them flush to the stem. Roots grow more easily from these leaf nodes, so if you can afford to remove more than one pair of leaves, do so. Be sure to keep at least 2 pairs of leaves at the tip end of the cutting, though.
If the remaining leaves are quite large, cut them in half, removing the tip-half. This prevents the leaves from hitting the sides of the plastic bag you will place over the cutting later on (to keep the humidity up).
(Optional) Dust the leafless part of the stem with rooting hormone and an anti-fungal powder for plants (both available at a local hardware or garden store). This will encourage rooting and discourage rotting.
Prepare a small pot and fill it with moistened potting mix. Plant the cutting in the soil, sinking it down to the first pair of remaining leaves. Water lightly to get rid of any air gaps around the stem.
Cover the entire pot loosely with a plastic bag. Make sure the bag isn’t touching the leaves of the cutting, otherwise the leaves can rot. (Chopsticks or something similar can be used to prop up the bag and keep it off the leaves.)
Place the pot in a warm area that’s sheltered from direct sunlight and wind.
Check on your cutting every few days to make sure that it isn’t rotting and only water again once the top layer of soil is dry. With luck, the cutting should root in a few weeks! (Check by gently pulling on the cutting; if you feel resistance, roots have formed.)

Care

How to Care for a Hydrangea

For the first year or two after planting and during any drought, be sure hydrangeas get plenty of water. Leaves will wilt if the soil is too dry.
If your soil is rich, you may not need to fertilize hydrangeas. If your soil is light or sandy, it’s best to feed the plants once a year in late winter or spring. Too much fertilizer encourages leafy growth at the expense of blooms. Learn more about soil amendments.
In the fall, cover plants to a depth of at least 18 inches with bark mulch, leaves, pine needles, or straw in the fall. If at all possible, cover the entire plant, tip included, by making cages out of snow fencing or chicken wire, and loosely filling the cages with leaves. (Do not use maple leaves, as they tend to mat when wet and can suffocate the plant.)

How to Change the Color of Hydrangea Flowers

It is possible to change the flowers’ colors, but not instantly. Color correction takes weeks—even months. Wait until the plant is at least 2 years old to give it time to recover from the shock of its original planting. Also note that it’s easier to change blue flowers to pink than pink to blue.

It’s not every hydrangea that changes color. The color of some Bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla)—especially Mophead and Lacecap types—and H. serrata cultivars change color based on the soil pH.

Acidic soils with a pH of less than 5.5 produce blue flowers; soils with a pH greater than 5.5 produce pink flowers. White flowers are not affected by pH.

See How to Change the Color of Hydrangea Flowers for more information.

Hydrangea colors

How to Prune a Hydrangea

Many of our readers’ questions are about pruning a hydrangea. And no wonder—it’s confusing, and all depends on the variety of hydrangea.

Pruning Common Hydrangeas

The most common garden hydrangea shrub is the Bigleaf variety, Hydrangea macrophylla. (See more below.)

Bigleaf (H. macrophylla), as well as Oakleaf (H. quercifolia), are pruned AFTER the flowers fade in the summer. These varieties bloom on the previous season’s stems (“old wood”).

Flower buds actually form in the late summer and flower afterwards the following season, so avoid pruning after August 1.
Only cut away dead wood in the fall or very early spring.
To prune, cut one or two of the oldest stems down to the base to encourage branching and fullness.
If the plant is old, neglected, or damaged, prune all the stems down to the base. You’ll lose the flowers for the upcoming season, but also rejuvenate the plant for future years.
It’s best not to deadhead (remove faded blooms) on the big Mopheads; leave them over the winter and cut them back in early spring (to the first healthy pair of buds). It’s fine to deadhead the Lacecaps; cut down to the second pair of leaves below the flower head.
When growing H. macrophylla (and H. serrata) varieties in Zones 4 and 5, do not prune unless absolutely necessary, and then do so immediately after blooming. Otherwise, remove only dead stem in the spring.

Pruning Other Hydrangeas

Panicle (H. paniculata) and Smooth (H. arborescens) hydrangeas are pruned BEFORE flower buds are formed. These varieties blossom on the current season’s stems (“new wood”).
Prune in the late winter when the plant is dormant. This means that if the buds are killed during the winter, the plant will produce new buds in the spring which will produce blooms.
In general, prune only dead branches, and do not prune to “shape” the bush.

Read more about how to prune hydrangea varieties.

Pests/Diseases

Click links for common pest pages:

Gray mold
Slugs
Powdery mildew
Rust
Ringspot virus
Leaf spots

Harvest/Storage

How to Cut and Store Dried Flowers

Use dried hydrangea flowers to create a wreath or other decorations around the house:

Cut the flower heads when the flowers have matured and developed a papery consistency.
Remove leaves from stems, and hang upside down in a warm, dry, dark, airy room.
When completely dry (usually a couple of weeks), store in a dry location out of direct sunlight.
To enhance flower color, spritz dry flowers with diluted fabric dye.

Bigleaf Hydrangea (mophead)

How to Use Hydrangeas in a Bouquet

Place the freshly cut hydrangea stems immediately into cold water to avoid wilting.
Recut the woody stems at a slant under water. Remove lower leaves on the stems.
Arrange the stems in a vase and place in a cool spot.
Check the water in the vase daily and mist the blooms with water.
Soak wilting blooms in cool water for 10 to 15 minutes to revive them.

Recommended Varieties

For a more detailed overview of the many types of hydrangeas, check out Hydrangea Varieties for Every Garden.

There are two main groups of hydrangeas:

Group 1: Plants that bloom on new growth (this year’s stems)

The following hydrangeas, which form their buds in early summer on new growth, will flower reliably each year, requiring no special care.

Panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata)
- ‘Grandiflora’ is a big, old-fashioned, floppy variety, ‘Tardiva’, ‘White Moth’, and ‘Pee Wee’ fit the scale of small gardens. ‘Limelight’ produces cool-green flowers and grows to a height of 6 to 8 feet.
Smooth hydrangeas (H. arborescens)
- Look for the cultivars H. arborescens ‘Grandiflora’ and ‘Annabelle’, which produce many large (up to 14 inches across), tight, symmetrical blooms in late summer.

Bigleaf hydrangea lacecap
Image: Lacecap hydrangea

Group 2: Plants that bloom on old growth (last year’s stems)

If you live in Zone 8 or warmer, choose plants from this group. Gardeners in cool climate zones will find many of them a challenge, because they set flower buds in the fall. Although hardy to Zones 4 and 5, the buds are prone to damage by an early frost in fall, a late frost in spring, or excessively cold temperatures when dormant in winter. This, along with untimely pruning, can result in inconsistent flowering or no flowering at all.

Oakleaf hydrangeas (H. quercifolia)
- You can expect exceptional fall color from ‘Snow Queen’, ‘Snow Flake’, and ‘Alice’.
Bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla)
- We love ‘All Summer Beauty’ (Mophead), which has profuse, dark blue flowers—turning more pink in soils with near neutral pH. If its buds are winter-killed, the plant will form new ones in spring and still bloom.
- ‘Nikko Blue’ (Mophead) is vigorous, with large, rounded, blue flowers.
- ‘Blue Wave’ (Lacecap) produces rich blue to mauve or lilac-blue to pink flowers.
- ‘Color Fantasy’ (Mophead) has reddish or deep purple flowers and shiny, dark green leaves. It grows to about 3 feet tall.
Mountain hydrangeas (H. serrata)
- Examples are ‘Bluebird’ and ‘Diadem’. In acidic soil, ‘Preziosa’ produces blossoms of an extraordinary blend of pale shades of blue, mauve, violet, and green.
Climbing hydrangeas (H. anomala ssp. Petiolaris)
- ‘Firefly’ is a newly-patented variety exhibiting variegated foliage.

For more about hydrangea varieties, see Hydrangea Varieties for Every Garden.

Wit & Wisdom

The name hydrangea is derived from the Greek words hydor meaning water and angeion meaning vessel, referring to the plant’s seed pods, which look like small water jugs.

In the language of flowers, hydrangeas symbolize gratitude for being understood, or frigidity and heartlessness. See more flower meanings.

Planting Times

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Reader Comments

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Hydrangea won't bloom

I bought a very small hydrangea bush , with no flowers on it,at the grocery store 4 years ago. Every year it grows and this year especially it looks great, big and bushy. It is probably about 2 and 1/2 feet tall now. The only problem is it has never bloomed one flower. Nothing! Is something wrong with it? I have no idea what kind it is.

hydrangea won't grow

I was given two hydrangeas one year apart. The first one grew very well for 2 years--the year it was planted and then it came back beautifully. The second one did okay the year it was planted. This year, neither of them did anything--they look totally dead. What's going on? We did have some late cold weather here in Virginia.

pruning?

A week ago i planted beautiful blue hydrageas, after soil preparation. The plants look great and still full however the blossoms are laying over on the ground as they are so full and heavy. Should they be trimmed back to allow the plant to grow and re-bloom or should we stake to up, or should we leave it alone and let it make the adjustment to the new environment?

Pruning Blossoms

If you think that you’ve seen enough of the blooms for this year, go ahead and snip them off. This will save the plant from having to expend energy turning those flowers into seeds—energy that it can use to grow new roots instead.

Wilting hydrangea

I have a couple let’s dance big easy hydrangeas. They were planted almost a month ago and the heads to them just started wilting... I try to water once a day and use miracle grow once a week. Can I cut the head off for regrowth? Or will it not re grow?

hydrangea care

“Let’s Dance” seldom needs pruning; it blooms on old and new wood. When a hydrangea is wilting, the most common reason is poor drainage. Are their feet wet? The second most common reason is temperature. It may just be too hot in their location. When it’s about 80 degrees, all hydrangeas will wilt. The question is: does it perk back up in the morning? Then it’s fine. If it’s always wilting, then it may get too much sun and you need to move the plants. “Let’s Dance” does better in a location with afternoon shade.

no new leaves or buds

I purchased two Bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla) last summer and they did quite well all season. I did not remove the anything from the stems. My husband however cut the stems and dried mopheads off this spring. All I have are brown stems coming out of the ground. There is no signs of new leaves only wine coloured buds. Will these plants amount to anything this year. My husband wanted to pull them out but I paid too much money for them last year and am hopeful that they will still come alive and bloom!!

a Bigleaf future

See the pruning tips and advice above, in terms of timing and the thoroughness of the cutting that was done. Considering that these plants can be “pruned” to the ground and come back, there may be hope.

Hydrangea

I have this Hydrangea now for three years and it looks great and healthy looking, however, I never see it bloom at all. What am I doing wrong.

why no flowers?

It is hard to say absolutely but you might have a shade-lover in sun or a sun-lover in shade.

have a beautiful bush but no flowers plant is going on 4yrs old

why no flowers ?

pinacle hydrangea planting (limelight)

Hi! I would like to plant a pinacle hydrangea in my zone (7b) but I think it might be best to wait until to fall now. Any suggestions?

when to plant...

It’s so early in season still, we would say now. But then we thought that the Morton Arboretum in Illinois, which has quite a few of them, might have more specific advice. You will find the Arboretum and lots of info here: http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/panicled-h...

Broken stems

While planting a new younger plant, I accidentally broke almost every single stem on this beautifully flowering plant. Is it done for or is there hope? Can anything be done to save the larger newly developing flowers?

broken stems

It happens… Give the plant some TLC, in the ground or in a pot and see if the roots take hold. It would be a while before you would see any significant top growth (possibly a year; hard to be certain). But you say you broke “almost every single stem” so they may be hope for growth sooner. If the flowers have broken off, you could put the stems in water; they might open and last a couple of weeks. It depends on their stage of development.

From the beginning

I received a Mother’s Day arrangement of cut flowers - roses, hydrangeas and baby’s breath. There are two cuts of a white hydrangea. I live in Georgia. Would I be able to root from a cut off and if so would you help me with instructions - How to, how long, inside or out and when to actually plant. Our summers are pretty harsh so don’t want to make any mistakes with timing.

Hydrangea Cuttings

Hydrangeas can be started from cuttings, though typically it’s done with cuttings that don’t have flowers. Here’s how to do it:

Snip off the actual flower and discard it. Trim the remaining stem down to 3 or 4 inches. Use the part of the stem that was closest to the flower.
Leave only one to three pairs of leaves on the stem and remove the rest. Hydrangeas produce roots most easily from the places where leaves once were.
(Optional) Dust the leafless part of the stem with rooting hormone (available at a local hardware or garden store).
Plant in moist potting mix and cover loosely with a plastic bag. Make sure the bag isn’t touching the leaves of the cutting, otherwise the leaves can rot. Check every so often to make sure that the cutting isn’t rotting and only water again once the top layer of soil is dry.
Place the pot in a warm spot that’s sheltered from direct sunlight and wind. With luck, the cutting should root in a few weeks.

The cutting can be kept indoors if outside temperatures are too extreme, or placed in a sheltered spot outdoors. Wait until fall, when temperatures are mild, to transplant the cutting to its permanent home in your garden!

If you try this method, let us know how it goes!

Hygrangeas leaves

My leaves are turning really brown/grey plus I think something is eating the leaves. please give advice as to what I should do. I live in Mississippi

Hardiness Planting Zone?

Will hydrangeas grow in zone 10?

Hygrangeas

Can a hygrangeas that is in full bloom be planted?

Planting hydrangea

Yes, you may transplant established hydrangeas but it’s best to move specimens in the spring after the last spring frost or in the fall. It’s best to avoid the period when the hydrangea is actively growing (March through September).

Planting Blooming Hydrangea past the planting stage

We received a blooming hydrangea as a gift from a funeral. Being that it's May and past the planting stage, should we plant anyway?

Planting blooming hydrangeas now - best location north, east?

Last summer I planted two hydrangeas on the north east side of my home and they survived the winter. The leaves are about eight inches tall. Would they grow better in another location?

There's yet another color out there

There's also a variety that blooms with very light green flowers (which eventually turn reddish-purple over time).

Repotting

I've recently been given beautiful hydrangea as a gift but it losing flowers, wilting and dying off already. Its too cold to plant outside yet. If I transfer to bigger pot for a month or more and then transplant outside should that be ok or too traumatic for plant? Otherwise I'll get big pot and leave it! Thank you for any advice☺

wilting hydrangea

The hydrangea gift was in all likelihood a forced plant—forced to flower out of its natural season by a nursery to be appealing in stores. Sometimes these can be saved, sometimes they can not. Try to keep the moisture level balanced—not too wet. Let it dry out between waterings. You could try to transplant it…but if it is weak/wilting now, the stress of transplanting may be too much for it to handle. If you lose it, consider that it was a lovely gesture—and the inspiration to purchase one that you can plant outdoors and enjoy for years.

Poison

Are hydrangea poison to animals?

toxicity

Here’s what the ASPCA has to say, “Hydrangeas do contain small amounts of cyanide but surprisingly we do not see signs consistent with cyanide (difficulty breathing, dark red gums, death). Dogs and cats frequently have vomiting and diarrhea after ingesting the hydrangea flowers. It would be best to keep the flowers outside and away from your pets.” For more information, see ASPCA Animal Poison Control.

Plan to plant hydrangaeas

Hello! I am from Philippines and I am planning to plant hydrangaeas for my thesis, but I only have six months before my thesis starts. Will hydrangaeas flower within that range of time? Is there any technique to grow the hydrangaeas faster??

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