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Pruning Oakleaf Hydrangea to keep 3' to 5'?

15 years ago

I bought the species oakleaf hydrangea quercifolia and not one of the dwarf cultivars. Is it easy to keep Oakleaf hydrangeas shorter than the 6' to 10' tall than they are reputed to grow or does pruning them compromise the grace of these plants? I was hoping to keep them around 4' tall or so. I don't care how wide they get. I suppose some bloom will be sacrificed unless they are pruned right after the white flowers fade? Any advice on the habit of this plant and how it lends itself to pruning is greatly appreciated. I just planted now so hopefully they will make it through the winter. The fall color on these is spectacular!

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Comments (6)

Embothrium
15 years ago
Oakleaf hydrangea is in the not much pruning group of hydrangeas. However, it can come back from hard pruning especially if encouraged by mulching etc. Try letting yours go until it is just too tall, then cutting it down low on a periodic cycle, so that it has multiple years of unrestrained growth to recover and flower between renewal pruning episodes.
Donna
15 years ago
I prune my Snowflake immediately after it blooms each year and that is all that is required to keep it about four to five feet tall. It blooms like mad.
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Thanks, you guys. I was just out looking at it and trimmed a couple more branches that I could get to and that I knew were dead. I live in OK and it's already hot here. I'm hesitant to cut it back now just because our climate is so challenging by this point. I may wait till Sept/early Oct, realizing that I may have no blooms at all next year. I did have it generally trimmed back this spring because it was so unwieldy and have yet to see a bloom, so this year may be a bust as well (but I knew that might be the case--old wood and all). I'm just glad that it's possible to cut it back hard if I need to. Proper pruning remains a mystery to me (despite my best efforts to learn about it) and, I suspect, a mystery to all but a very few, including landscaping people. I had my azaleas pruned this year after they bloomed, by people who swore they knew how to prune azaleas, and all they did was give them a crewcut--ridiculous.
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Embothrium
15 years ago
Success of this depends on what specific appearance is desired. Part of original question was

does pruning them compromise the grace of these plants?

so it sounds like poster could be bothered by results of nibbling at top every year.
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
15 years ago
This is a great question that has been on my mind lately too. I planted two of these and last spring we moved one of them because it ended up in a position it didn't like. They are both doing well, thankfully we had a lot of rain this year. The one I moved in spring has a great shape and has the room to do what it wants. The second one that has been in the same position for two years, has an odd shape to it. Most of the branches are well positioned, but then it has two that are very awkward looking. One is so close to the ground that it is rooting and the second one is coming away from the rest in an odd angle looking out of place. I am tempted to cut the whole thing back to the ground and let it try again to find it's own natural shape, but just can't bring myself to lose two years of growth. The only other option I can think of is to cut off the two odd branches and leave the center branches and hope that it will sprout new side branches to make up the difference.

Any thoughts?

I hope this is along the same line as the original question, if not I can post a separate thread.

Thanks
:-)
pm2
ego45
15 years ago
"...The only other option I can think of is to cut off the two odd branches and leave the center branches and hope that it will sprout new side branches to make up the difference"

If Ma-nature will not do it for you this winter, do it yourself in a spring with no hesitance. If it already established itself such surgery will not hurt it in any way.
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
15 years ago
Yay! Thanks ego....I was hoping that was what I could do. I haven't really looked closely yet, but I did try pulling on the branch that is close to the ground and it felt rooted. I was hoping I might have a second shrub there that I could dig out and use.

It would seem at least I have the chance that it can improve upon itself and if it doesn't, I always have the other option of cutting it down to the ground and starting over. The leaves are a gorgeous color this year and I am looking forward to it maturing.

Thanks again...
pm2

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