Prune hydrangeas

These summer-blooming deciduous shrubs are easy to prune and a great starter plant if you’ve never pruned before. It’s lucky that they’re easy, as we have hundreds growing in our cool-climate Tasmanian garden. Hydrangeas produce pairs of plump bright green buds along their stems, which are easy to see once the plant has lost its old leaves. These give rise to flowering wood and produce the summer flower show.

How to prune hydrangeas

Tools for the job: Sharp secateurs

Step 1 Select flowered stems and examine each one for pairs of plump green buds, leaving plenty of buds below the cut.

Step 2 Cut each stem just above the fattest pair of buds. Cutting back too hard may reduce flowering but revitalises old woody plants.

Step 3 Remove all the old woody growth at ground level to make room for new shoots. Leave stems that didn’t flower on the shrub (they won’t have a spent flower head), as they will bloom in summer.