My Limelight Hydrangea Tree
djacob Z6a SE WI
2 years ago
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debra
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djacob Z6a SE WI
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Limelight hydrangea tree
Comments (2)Hello, JK JK. I am making some assumptions that may not be correct. Needed more info about the so-called late frost and things like watering. But here's a guess: If watering the soil does not quickly perk up the leaves then the late frost zapped the leaves. But killed the plant? Weeeeellllll, these are tough plants and death by a late frost is almost unheard of (but not impossible). Late frosts would hardly damage roots but they would affect the growth above the soil line. Leaves would turn papery-like green and dry. Or they may turn dark green, almost blackish. To find out the condition of the stems or the main trunk, you can lightly scratch the cambium (sp.?) layer with your nails to see if you see green. And if the green stays green. Covering the tree will provide s-o-m-e protection from frost buuut not enough if things get "frosty" enough. If the leaves got zapped by the frost, you should get new leaves later on (wait as this is not an overnight/quick process though). But has something ELSE has occurred? If the late frost happened recently, you should get new foliage after several weeks of waiting. I would be concerned about the main trunk after waiting for leaf out and getting none in 2-4 weeks. If something has happened that killed the main trunk, it sure did not affect the suckers. They look just fine so I have the same hope for the main trunk. But you could kill a main trunk other ways... if temps fluctuated a lot, stayed high enough to break dormancy and then the temps crashed well below freezing; new growth would start from the bottom as new suckers. Or something else happened like borer insects damaged the main trunk. Etc, etc. The suckers appear to be several years old and are looking fine. So hopefully, if this pic is recent, it looks like the frost got to the upper parts of the shrub and not to the suckers. Something frost sometimes does. In the meantime, keep the soil as evenly moist as you can, keep the soil well mulched to conserve soil moisture and keep the soil amended/fertilized as usual (not need to go overboard with more ferts or with more amendments; the regular amts should be fine). Paniculatas develop new stems (suckers) from the base at times. Like yours is doing. Assuming that all is well with the main trunk, these suckers can eventually be pruned off like you would if this was a peach tree producing suckers. In the unlikely event that something did happen to the main trunk, the suckers can be used to re-grow the tree from selected suckers. But that is another story and I think you should first get confirmation that all is well (or not) with the main trunk. Luis...See MoreMy Limelight Hydrangea Tree
Comments (31)Well, I can only speak from my experience. As you can see from my pictures, I did a really hard prune. I am shocked by how beautifully it has grown back and prolifically bloomed. I don’t think removing them will hurt the appearance of the trees. If you want them to maintain a tree structure I would recommend cutting those suckers off either late fall or early spring. Most people say to prune in early spring but it can also be done in fall. Basically, the suckers are taking energy away from the development of the main tree trunk. Removing them will let the energy go into producing the tree, branches and flowers. Also, downward branches, weak/thin branches and crossways branches should be removed. Hope this helps! debra...See MoreBlooming Paniculata
Comments (4)Looking great! My Limelight blooms here in SE Michigan are at the exact same stage. Every day I peek outside to see if they're in their full glory yet - I'm getting impatient! :-)...See MoreStripped limelight tree bark budding at base
Comments (5)Hydrangea are not trees botanically but sub shrub they have soft-ish wood which ages badly and -good news- have the ability to regrow from dormant buds and shoots from the base so it should be ok to cut above all sprouting eyes. to trim a sub shrub as a tiny standard tree goes against their nature, they tend to regrow and re-juvenate frome the base. so I personally would regrow it as shrub and then just keep pruning it in intervealls, good luck, Lin edited to ad: one way to properly prune Hydrangea paniculata ist to cut back most of the old growth in spring...See Moredjacob Z6a SE WI
2 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI
2 years agoThanks ostrich! I don’t think it will get much bigger. A couple of years ago, I realized I had never trimmed it and I probably should. My yard slopes down and in the mext picture you can notice it was not planted straight or braced by the nursery from which I purchased it. As a result, the tree had grown a bit lopsided.
So I trimmed back every branch, hard. My small yard was covered in branches and spent blooms. Afterward, I feared I had gone too far and the tree would not come back well. But ==> it did! Just as beautiful as ever. I haven’t trimmed it since. Maybe next year.debra
ps the pots are place holders for hostas I ordered in February and still haven’t received.
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
2 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI thanked cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)djacob Z6a SE WI
2 years ago
Annette Holbrook(z7a)
2 years agoMine was at least 15 feet tall. All the trimming was done by the deer.
djacob Z6a SE WI thanked Annette Holbrook(z7a)djacob Z6a SE WI
2 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI
2 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI
2 years ago
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