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Perennials Minnesota Gardening Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas demolished by painters - what can I do?

2 years ago

A huge source of joy for me the past 2 summers - I bought an older home Oct 2020 and was pleased to find great big hydrangea bushes lining the side of my home. I absolutely adore these plants and they have brought me so much joy. We had the home repainted and they finished today - I was completely horrified to find the painters have demolished my line of hydrangeas. I am so upset about it, but I know I should do whatever I can to ensure they come back full next year - I was even going to try to use them for my wedding next summer :(

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Comments (11)

cecily 7A
2 years ago
Hi Molly, where are you located? For my hydrangeas, it's the end of the season so I wouldn't trim or fertilize if that happened to mine, only water. And cry.
0
kitasei2
2 years ago
Important to identify the type they are so you don’t inadvertently prune next year’s buds. In the mesntime live with the mess.
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littlebug zone 5 Missouri
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
So sorry. I’m a plant lover too and I understand.

Many years ago we had to have a roof replaced. I told them repeatedly to be careful of my plants and they assured me they would, outlining their plans to protect them. They lied. 🤦‍♀️

Yes, you must find out exactly what type of hydrangeas you have, before trimming.
0
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I assume these flowered this year without any input from the OP last year, so I'd leave them alone other than removing completely broken pieces back to healthy stems. Bent bits might spring back. I wouldn't fertilise them either now of for the forseeable future. They're already floppy and weak wooded so you don't want to encourage lush growth.

A propos wedding flowers, I would not rely on growing your own flowers for the main material. Weddings are stressful enough without the worry of watching to see if things are going to bloom on time.
pennlake
2 years ago
Those are hydrangea arborescens. I'd leave any branches be that stay green through fall. Then cut them back hard dormant. They'll be fine next year.
0
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
take out the wedding variable.. and fall back to basic simple pruning rules ...

in this case.. remove all broken pieces just prior to the break ...

and then nothing else ... with no insult to the root mass.. they should bounce back with vigor next season ...

and i totally agree with flora on wedding flower comments hire out your flowers.. and when making the contract.. indicate you will be bringing extra stock from your garden.. if any ...

i did that with my october MI wedding.. because i had no clue if my hundreds of rose bushes would be in bloom in late october in MI .. the florist was tolerant and his sly smile suggested he didnt expect much .. lol..

when i showed up with 5 five gallon buckets of cut hybrid Ts.. he about spit his teeth out .. lol .. i showed him... [btw.. harvesting them during the week of the wedding. and driving across town to his shop .. with a million other things to do.. was also an unforeseen PIA...]

anyway.. i digress .. except for your self inflicted stress.. this isnt that big a deal.. ive been thru august hail storms that did more damage than your pix show.. and by next season... you woldnt have known ...

also.. and finally.. next time.. put it in your contract that they give best effort of maintaining your garden... this damage was just so avoidable. .. imo..

ken
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
2 years ago

I agree with floral..remove only the damaged stems..I like mine taller and don't prune mine..I've read to prune these late winter early spring..I do any touch up clipping in the spring..
0
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
btw.. whoever planted all the plant there... did it improperly ... ALL of your utilities should have easy access for workers to maintain said utilities ... yours dont.. and that is why all the damage... keep in mind.. above work was done on ladders sloping away from the foundation plants.. so thats not when the problem happened ...

and if you look close at the pix.. its when those all needed to be painted. is when most of the damage occurred ...

you should .. in the future.. move some of that larger stuff out of there.. and landscape around the utilities in a more utilitarian manner...

most likely.. you have until you hire out the painting again.. to accomplish such ..

ken

ps: and should you decide to dig some stuff out.. call miss dig and have all the incoming utilities marked before you go jumping on a shovel ...
0
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago

I agree with ken..I left service alleys next to my house on all 4 sides..I love it..

I didn't say it but when I saw your pics I thought "I'd move those"..

I know you didn't plant them..
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
2 years ago
Yes, a selection of hydrangea aborescens. You are perfectly safe to cut these back at will and they will be fine next season, however I would leave them be now (except for watering as needed) until this fall after they drop leaves or very early next spring.
luis_pr
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I would wait until the plant drops foliage in fall or winter so you can see the skeleton created by the stems and prune as needed to re-establish a half moon shrub shape… as close ad you can as possible. Maintsin 3-4” of mulch,; maintain the soil evenly damp at sll times; acidify the soil as needed if it is alkaline. Apply a slow-release fertilizer once the plants starts to leaf out or has nee stem growth but that will also depend on your frost date: the last slow-release fertilizer application should be done 3 months before your average date of first frost. So So, if not appropriate to fertilize this season, wait until your average date of last frost in spring 2023.

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