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Pruning Endless Summer Hydrangeas: Easy Foolproof Guide

Pruning Endless Summer Hydrangeas: Easy Foolproof Guide

Despite their attractive appearance and decorative qualities, Endless Summer hydrangeas have a tendency to grow unevenly.

Pruning is a crucial part of the plant’s care to keep it manageable and looking its best all year round.

Do Endless Summer Hydrangeas Need To Be Pruned?

If you want your Endless Summer hydrangeas to keep blooming year after year and maintain their elegant appearance, then pruning is a must.

Without pruning, the wooden stalks get entangled and look messy. Not only that, but the blooms may become smaller and fewer in number each new season.

Eventually, the neglected hydrangeas will stop blooming altogether and look more like tumbleweeds than prized ornamental plants.

Benefits of Pruning Endless Summer Hydrangeas

Pruning Endless Summer hydrangeas doesn’t just keep the plant looking good. It also rejuvenates it and triggers new shoots that keep the plant looking younger and healthier every year.

Without pruning, the old stalks will become woody and eventually stop blooming. They’ll just take up resources and prevent new shoots from growing. 

Pruning hydrangea also ensures that they will have large and bright blooms each year. The young stems carry healthy blooms while the old stalks have smaller flowers. 

Understanding How Endless Summer Hydrangeas Bloom

Endless Summer hydrangeas are known for their large, showy blooms. Sometimes you’ll find white, blue, or even pink blooms on the plant.

This is not a different variety or a new cultivar. It’s the same Endless Summer hydrangea variety. What’s different is the soil — to be precise, the soil pH.

In pH-neutral soils, the hydrangea will produce white blooms.

If you want pink blooms, then amend the soil to get its pH above 7.0, and if you want blue hydrangeas, then reduce the pH to make the soil slightly acidic.

However, don’t go overboard with the soil pH. Soil that’s either too acidic or too alkaline could kill the plant altogether.

Does Endless Summer Hydrangea Bloom on Old Wood?

Endless Summer hydrangeas are versatile flowering plants and will bloom on both old and new wood. However, it’s not easy to tell which way the plant will go.

Sometimes the flower buds will emerge on the fall on the stalks. In that case, the plant will bloom on old wood in the spring. However, if no buds appear, then the plant will bloom on the new shoots in the spring.

Do You Deadhead Endless Summer Hydrangeas?

If you want your Endless Summer hydrangeas to keep blooming throughout the season, then deadheading the spent flowers is essential.

The main purpose of flowers is to become pollinated and produce seeds. If you deadhead the blooms before they seed, the plant will be forced to develop new flowers to replace them.

So, unless you want to harvest the seeds, deadheading is recommended for these hydrangeas.

When To Prune Endless Summer Hydrangeas

The best time to prune Endless Summer hydrangeas is in May. By this time the flower buds will become prominent enough for you to detect them on the wood.

This tells you which stalks to cut and which ones to leave behind.

Only prune dead wood, i.e., stalks that have no flower buds on them, since they’re practically dead weight. They take up resources and give nothing back.

In the winter, after all the flowers have died, trim away the edges to maintain the shape of the plant. This pruning should be light and focused on removing any broken or damaged.

Don’t cut healthy wood that might carry flower buds!

How To Prune Endless Summer Hydrangeas

To prune Endless Summer hydrangeas, follow these steps: 

1. Choose the Right Time

Endless Summer hydrangeas should be pruned twice a year. The first time should be in the spring, specifically in May.

This allows the plant enough time to push the flower buds on either the old wood or new wood. That way, you’ll be able to choose which stalks to remove and which ones to keep. 

The other pruning is in the winter. If the hydrangeas are going to flower on old wood, the buds emerge in the fall, but not all wood carries buds.

Those that don’t have buds are usually dead and should be removed.

2. Prune in the Spring for More Growth and Blooms

This is the most important pruning the plant should receive. It focuses on relieving the plant of any dead wood, damaged stalks, crossing stems, or diseased branches.

Always use sterilized tools to prevent infections. Look for the stalks that have no flower buds, and safely cut them. Spring pruning is all about encouraging new shoots and ensuring an abundance of blooms.

3. Prune in the Winter To Manage Size and Shape

Winter pruning is mostly about keeping the hydrangea in shape and promoting new growth in the spring. Look for stalks that don’t have flower buds on them, and remove them.

Trim vigorously, and cut any intersecting stems or those growing out of shape. If none of the wood has flower buds, that means the hydrangea will flower on the new wood. 

Endless Summer Hydrangea Pruning Mistakes To Avoid

When pruning your Endless Summer hydrangea, timing is everything. If you miss the right time for pruning, wait until the next pruning opportunity.

Don’t prune your hydrangea in the summer or fall. That will impact the blooms.

In the fall, the flower buds haven’t fully developed yet, and you could lose the whole or some of the blooms by mistaking barren stalks for dead wood. 

Endless Summer Hydrangea Too Big

If you leave your Endless Summer hydrangea on its own, it will grow too big and messy. Pruning keeps the plant manageable and lets you control its shape and size.

Remove dead stalks as well as damaged or broken ones. Don’t be afraid to prune the hydrangea aggressively as long as you don’t cut the stalks carrying flower buds. 

When pruning during the winter, if you notice that the wood isn’t carrying any flower buds, you can cut about one-third of the thick stalks to the ground to bring the hydrangea back to shape.

Endless Summer Hydrangea Bloom Time

The bloom season for the Endless Summer hydrangea varies depending on the Growing Zone, but for the most part, the bloom season starts in the summer and continues through the fall. 

Endless Summer Hydrangea Not Blooming

One of the main reasons that your Endless Summer hydrangea isn’t blooming is aggressive pruning, especially if you remove the old wood carrying the flower buds.

Poor soil can be another reason. As a perennial, hydrangea depletes the nutrients in the soil quickly, and this affects the blooms.

Lack of water or irregular watering patterns can also impact the blooms. Excessive heat could cause the same issues.

Endless Summer Hydrangea Winter Care

Caring for the Endless Summer hydrangea during the winter will ensure the plant stays healthy and comes back in the spring.

Start by stopping all fertilizer applications from mid-August until the next spring. Keep the soil moist throughout the fall, and cover the soil with a thick layer of mulch in the early winter.

Conclusion

Endless Summer hydrangeas need pruning twice a year. The first time is in the early spring to remove dead wood and encourage new growth.

The second pruning is in the winter to manage the plant’s size and remove broken or outgrown stalks.