Thanks. We bought in the fall, and I pruned out the most obvious dead stuff in late winter, but wanted to have it declare itself once it leafed out to see which branches could be taken off.

If it does not leaf out by the end of May, you can assume it will most likely will not do so. But if you want, you can carefully scratch the dead looking stems and look for 'green'.

It looks much better after the pruning!! Hydrangea paniculata can be pruned at any time before full leaf out in late spring. And without concern for losing flowering potential :-) Generally, these types of hydrangeas take to hard pruning quite well, at least in the shrub form. I have never attempted to prune a tree form very severely but I do know you can cut back the top leafy portion rather freely. And sometimes should, as the weight of the flowerheads will often weigh down the longer branches significantly.

Here is an update. Our hydrangea tree looks absolutely beautiful this year. Covered in blooms, and all green. No dead branches visible. The large trunks that are the lower supports of the tree have multiple holes/hollows where old limbs must have been pruned off (maybe at 3-4 feet above the ground). You can put your fingers inside these holes, so there is very little structure. The tree itself is over 20 feet tall. Is there any way to better support them so a large section of the tree does not break off? Thanks.

We had a big snowstorm last week and two of the old trunks cracked open about 4-5 feet off the ground. They cross each other and are essentially fused together. In the bottom photo, it would be the left side of the tree where the old limbs/trunk cross each other.. They are not completely broken but are split wide open. I am going to wait and see what happens this spring. If that third of the tree dies back, can I just cut those trunks below where they spilt, and will the tree put out new growth from the cut area? Thanks

Is the split before of after the WYE . At 4-5 feet high, I'd just cut it fliush where the split ends and eventually something should -shoot- from below.

On the left side of the tree about 2/3 up where the trunks criss cross

So basicaly it's split past the WYE.

it's split anyhow so just cut it where you feel comfortable. I'm sure a shoot or 2 will come from below.

So i had bolted the cracked pieces together, and the tree bloomed beautifullyI fully. But it finally broke. i cut it below the split areas. Would you cut it any lower, or do any pruning of remaining part in Spring to make it a better shape? Thanks

I normally would cut it lower but being so thick the trunk in there, I would not have the tools to do a good job and thus, I would leave it as is. However, the tree looks unbalanced so I would stake it well to minimize damage from any possible strong winds.

@dave4242 zone 5 What a beautiful tree & great job with your first pruning 5 years ago. Sad that the one side of it broke off. I take @luis_pr point of staking for support - especially now while it’s so heavily in bloom. I’m wondering if next spring it might be good to prune the right side (in the picture) heavily & barely touch left side. My thought is the top would look more balanced once fully leafed out. Not sure how the entire tree could be in balance again any time soon. Seems like any growth that might come from the short cut off side would have to be selectively pruned to promote a couple of shoots to become eventual trunks. A long term project for sure but a worthy one as I’d want to save that tree if only for its history!

Thanks. i’m thin about cutting the stump lower with a chainsaw. But we had 4 foot long stalks that came out near the cracks this summer. unfortunately had to cut that whole section out when it broke lower doen

You had to cut the whole side trunk off? Wow. Then it seems selective top pruning is the only way to reshape the top. That plant must have many years behind it. How tall is it now? There’s nothing close by in picture for perspective.

It is probably between 15-20 feet tall, at least and over 100 years old. If you look in the second picture from a few years ago, i had to cut out the whole left side of the tree. Those trunks split down the middle.

Dave, I did understand the left side of tree split in storm as I did read through history on your post. Sadly those Y trunks in trees are vulnerable. What I meant about cutting side trunk off was that bit that’s left when you originally had to cut the tree. I misunderstood & thought you had to do a second cutting after removing the damaged part.

It was crazy. The thick limbs on the left were hollow like straws. They popped open for a length of 3 feet each. i used threaded bolts to try to keep them together but the weight and winds were too much. The whole tree was in bloom, but they were so weighed down that they opened up more. But it is so vigorous. I thought half of the tree would have no growth but it was covered in flowers.

I look forward to pictures next spring in the continuing saga of this tree with a strong will to keep on blooming!

Will definitely update next year. Thanks for all the advice.

I have no advice but I really appreciate this lovely update!!!