Growing Hydrangeas

How to Plant, Grow, and Prune Hydrangeas

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With immense flower heads, hydrangeas flaunt an old-fashioned charm in summertime that’s hard to resist. While these flowering shrubs are low-maintenance, proper care will keep them blooming. Our Hydrangea Guide provides summer plant care tips for all you need to know about growing hydrangeas—from watering to fertilizing to pruning to winter care.

About Hydrangeas

Unrivaled in the shrub world for beautiful flowers, these elegant plants are easy to cultivate, tolerate almost any soil, and produce abundant blooms. Colors beguile with clear blue, vibrant pink, frosty white, lavender, and rose blossoms—sometimes all blooming on the same plant!

Hydrangeas are excellent for a range of garden sites from group plantings to shrub borders to containers. Varieties abound (every year, it seems, breeders present us with more options!), and gardeners’ expectations of bloom size and color are boundless. To know how your hydrangea will grow, pay attention to the types, defined below. When you know what to expect, delights will be magnified.

Enjoy this ode to the beautiful of hydrangeas and learn how to grow hydrangeas in our guide below.

Planting

When to Plant Hydrangeas

Plant in spring after the last spring frost or in fall before the first fall frost. See local frost dates.
Plant before the heat of summer arrives.

Where to Plant Hydrangeas

Most hydrangeas will thrive in fertile, well-draining soils that receive plenty of moisture. Add compost to enrich poor soil.
Generally, hydrangeas prefer partial sun. Ideally, they will be given full sun in the morning, with some afternoon shade to protect from the hot midday sun. This is especially true for the Bigleaf hydrangea (H. macrophylla), which is prone to wilting. Some varieties are more tolerant of full sun.
Space hydrangeas anywhere from 3 to 10 feet apart, depending on type.

How to Plant Hydrangeas

Dig a hole as deep as the root ball and 2 to 3 times as wide.
Set the plant in the hole and fill it half full with soil. Water. After water is absorbed, fill the rest of the hole with soil.
Water thoroughly again.

Pink hydrangea flowers

How to Grow Hydrangeas from Cuttings

Hydrangeas can easily be grown from cuttings. They root readily and the process makes for a great lesson in propagation. Here’s how to do it:

On a well-established hydrangea, find a branch that is new growth and that has not flowered. New growth will appear lighter in color than old growth, and the stem will not be as rigid.
From the tip of the branch, move 4 to 5 inches down and make a horizontal cut. Make sure that there are at least 3 to 4 pairs of leaves on your cutting.
Remove the lowest pair of leaves from the cutting, trimming them flush to the stem. Roots grow more easily from these leaf nodes, so if you can afford to remove more than one pair of leaves, do so. Be sure to keep at least 2 pairs of leaves at the tip end of the cutting, though.
If the remaining leaves are quite large, cut them in half, removing the tip-half. This prevents the leaves from hitting the sides of the plastic bag you will place over the cutting later on (to keep the humidity up).
(Optional) Dust the leafless part of the stem with rooting hormone and an anti-fungal powder for plants (both available at a local hardware or garden store). This will encourage rooting and discourage rotting.
Prepare a small pot and fill it with moistened potting mix. Plant the cutting in the soil, sinking it down to the first pair of remaining leaves. Water lightly to get rid of any air gaps around the stem.
Cover the entire pot loosely with a plastic bag. Make sure the bag isn’t touching the leaves of the cutting, otherwise the leaves can rot. (Chopsticks or something similar can be used to prop up the bag and keep it off the leaves.)
Place the pot in a warm area that’s sheltered from direct sunlight and wind.
Check on your cutting every few days to make sure that it isn’t rotting and only water again once the top layer of soil is dry. With luck, the cutting should root in a few weeks! (Check by gently pulling on the cutting; if you feel resistance, roots have formed.)

Care

Hydrangea Care

Watering

For the first year or two after planting and during any drought, be sure hydrangeas get plenty of water.
Water at a rate of 1 inch per week throughout the growing season. It’s better to deeply water 3 times a week than sprinkle water in a shallow manner. This encourages root growth.
Bigleaf and smooth hydrangeas require more water, but all varieties benefit from consistent moisture.
Leaves will wilt if the soil is too dry, and flowering will be hampered by a lack of water.
Use a soaker hose to water deeply and keep moisture off the flowers and leaves.
It’s best to water in the morning to prepare hydrangeas for the the heat of the day and to avoid disease.
Add organic mulch underneath your hydrangeas to help keep the soil moist and cool, add nutrients over time, and improve soil texture.

Fertilizing

If your soil is rich, you may not need to fertilize hydrangeas. Too much fertilizer encourages leafy growth at the expense of blooms. The best way to determine your fertility needs is by using a soil test.

Apply fertilizer based on your specific hydrangeas. Each variety has different needs and will benefit from different application timing.

Bigleaf hydrangeas can benefit from several light fertilizer applications in March, May and June.
Oakleaf and panicle hydrangeas do best with two applications in April and June.
Smooth hydrangea plants only need fertilization once, in late winter.

Winter protection

In the fall, cover plants to a depth of at least 18 inches with bark mulch, leaves, pine needles, or straw in the fall. If at all possible, cover the entire plant, tip included, by making cages out of snow fencing or chicken wire, and loosely filling the cages with leaves. (Do not use maple leaves, as they tend to mat when wet and can suffocate the plant.)

How to Change the Color of Hydrangea Flowers

It is possible to change the flowers’ colors, but not instantly. Color correction takes weeks—even months. Wait until the plant is at least 2 years old to give it time to recover from the shock of its original planting. Also note that it’s easier to change blue flowers to pink than pink to blue.

It’s not every hydrangea that changes color. The color of some Bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla)—especially Mophead and Lacecap types—and H. serrata cultivars change color based on the soil pH.

Acidic soils with a pH of less than 5.5 produce blue flowers; soils with a pH greater than 5.5 produce pink flowers. White flowers are not affected by pH.

See How to Change the Color of Hydrangea Flowers for more information.

Hydrangea colors

How to Prune a Hydrangea

Many of our readers’ questions involve pruning hydrangeas. And no wonder—it’s confusing, and all depends on the variety of hydrangea. Luckily, as long as you know which type you’ve got, it’s easy to figure out what sort of pruning technique to employ.

Learn the essentials below, then read more about how to prune hydrangea varieties here.

Hydrangea Type	When to Prune	Where Flowers Appear
Bigleaf (H. macrophylla)	Summer, after flowering	On old growth
Oakleaf (H. quercifolia)	Summer, after flowering	On old growth
Panicle (H. paniculata)	Late winter, before spring growth	On new growth
Smooth (H. arborescens)	Late winter, before spring growth	On new growth
Mountain (H. serrata)	Summer, after flowering	On old growth
Climbing (H. anomala subsp. petiolaris)	Summer, after flowering	On old growth

Pruning Common Hydrangeas

The most common garden hydrangea shrub is the Bigleaf variety, Hydrangea macrophylla. (See more below.)

Bigleaf (H. macrophylla), Oakleaf (H. quercifolia), Mountain (H. serrata), and Climbing hydrangeas (H. anomala subsp. petiolaris) are pruned AFTER the flowers fade in the summer. These varieties bloom on the previous season’s stems (“old wood”).

Flower buds actually form in the late summer and flower afterwards the following season, so avoid pruning after August 1.
Only cut away dead wood in the fall or very early spring.
To prune, cut one or two of the oldest stems down to the base to encourage branching and fullness.
If the plant is old, neglected, or damaged, prune all the stems down to the base. You’ll lose the flowers for the upcoming season, but also rejuvenate the plant for future years.
It’s best not to deadhead (remove faded blooms) on the big Mopheads; leave them over the winter and cut them back in early spring (to the first healthy pair of buds). It’s fine to deadhead the Lacecaps; cut down to the second pair of leaves below the flower head.
When growing H. macrophylla (and H. serrata) varieties in Zones 4 and 5, do not prune unless absolutely necessary, and then do so immediately after blooming. Otherwise, remove only dead stem in the spring.

Other Hydrangeas

Panicle (H. paniculata) and Smooth (H. arborescens) hydrangeas are pruned BEFORE flower buds are formed. These varieties bloom on the current season’s stems (“new wood”).

Prune in the late winter when the plant is dormant. This means that if the buds are killed during the winter, the plant will produce new buds in the spring which will produce blooms.
In general, prune only dead branches, and do not prune to “shape” the bush.

Read more about how to prune hydrangea types.

Pests/Diseases

Protect against pests and disease by choosing resistant cultivars.

Powdery mildew, leaf spot, wilt, and bight can all appear on hydrangeas.
Pests are rare, but can appear when plants become stressed. Common pests include aphids and red spider mites.

Properly caring for hydrangeas is your best defense. (See above tips on watering and hydrangea care.)

Harvest/Storage

How to Cut and Store Dried Hydrangea Flowers

Use dried hydrangea flowers to create a wreath or other decorations around the house:

Cut the flower heads when the flowers have matured and developed a papery consistency.
Remove leaves from stems, and hang upside down in a warm, dry, dark, airy room.
When completely dry (usually a couple of weeks), store in a dry location out of direct sunlight.
To enhance flower color, spritz dry flowers with diluted fabric dye.

Bigleaf Hydrangea (mophead)

How to Use Hydrangeas in a Bouquet

Place the freshly cut hydrangea stems immediately into cold water to avoid wilting.
Recut the woody stems at a slant under water. Remove lower leaves on the stems.
Arrange the stems in a vase and place in a cool spot.
Check the water in the vase daily and mist the blooms with water.
Soak wilting blooms in cool water for 10 to 15 minutes to revive them.

Recommended Varieties

For a more detailed overview of the many types of hydrangeas, check out Hydrangea Varieties for Every Garden.

There are two main groups of hydrangeas:

Group 1: Plants that Bloom on New Growth (This Year’s Stems)

The following hydrangeas, which form their buds in early summer on new growth, will flower reliably each year, requiring no special care.

Panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata)
- ‘Grandiflora’ is a big, old-fashioned, floppy variety, ‘Tardiva’, ‘White Moth’, and ‘Pee Wee’ fit the scale of small gardens. ‘Limelight’ produces cool-green flowers and grows to a height of 6 to 8 feet.
Smooth hydrangeas (H. arborescens)
- Look for the cultivars H. arborescens ‘Grandiflora’ and ‘Annabelle’, which produce many large (up to 14 inches across), tight, symmetrical blooms in late summer.

Bigleaf hydrangea lacecap
Image: Lacecap hydrangea

Group 2: Plants that Bloom on Old Growth (Last Year’s Stems)

If you live in Zone 8 or warmer, choose plants from this group. Gardeners in cool climate zones will find many of them a challenge, because they set flower buds in the fall. Although hardy to Zones 4 and 5, the buds are prone to damage by an early frost in fall, a late frost in spring, or excessively cold temperatures when dormant in winter. This, along with untimely pruning, can result in inconsistent flowering or no flowering at all.

Oakleaf hydrangeas (H. quercifolia)
- You can expect exceptional fall color from ‘Snow Queen’, ‘Snow Flake’, and ‘Alice’.
Bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla)
- We love ‘All Summer Beauty’ (Mophead), which has profuse, dark blue flowers—turning more pink in soils with near neutral pH. If its buds are winter-killed, the plant will form new ones in spring and still bloom.
- ‘Nikko Blue’ (Mophead) is vigorous, with large, rounded, blue flowers.
- ‘Blue Wave’ (Lacecap) produces rich blue to mauve or lilac-blue to pink flowers.
- ‘Color Fantasy’ (Mophead) has reddish or deep purple flowers and shiny, dark green leaves. It grows to about 3 feet tall.
Mountain hydrangeas (H. serrata)
- Examples are ‘Bluebird’ and ‘Diadem’. In acidic soil, ‘Preziosa’ produces blossoms of an extraordinary blend of pale shades of blue, mauve, violet, and green.
Climbing hydrangeas (H. anomala ssp. Petiolaris)
- ‘Firefly’ is a newly-patented variety exhibiting variegated foliage.

For more about hydrangea varieties, see Hydrangea Varieties for Every Garden.

Wit & Wisdom

The word “hydrangea” is derived from Greek hydor meaning “water” and angeion meaning “vessel,” referring to the plant’s seed pods, which look like small water jugs.
In the language of flowers, hydrangeas symbolize gratitude for being understood, or frigidity and heartlessness. See more flower meanings.

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Reader Comments

Hydrangeas

My hydrangeas are breaking off about 4 in. from the base of the plant. Others are leaning almost to the ground. It’s making my plant very sparse looking. I have 4 plants that are all doing the same thing. I had a fifth plant that started to grow out this spring, but then suddenly died. I pruned my plants in the spring to about 3-4 in.from the soil. This is my first year here. Am I doing something wrong? I live in central Illinois.

Weed killer

I accixentlynsprayed my hydrangeas with weed killer instead of bug killer...what do I do to save them? All leaves died and branches look dead! Is it too late?

Weed killer

I accixentlynsprayed my hydrangeas with weed killer instead of bug killer...what do I do to save them? All leaves died and branches look dead! Is it too late?

light green leafs and no bloom in my hydrengya... what to do?

Hydrangea not blooming

We moved to a house with a lovely hydrangea that had been in the same spot for at least 10 years. It has never bloomed according to neighbors. I have been in the house 5 years and it has not bloomed. It gets morning East sun and sun till about 11:30 am. Then it has shade from the house the rest of the day altho exposed to daylight. I cant find anyone to tell me why it doesnt bloom. My mother in law has them down the street and they bloom. I am not understanding why these don't bloom She took a leaf cutting fall of 2019 and planted the growing bush in a pot. She has moved it from where the mother plant lived (full east morning sun) to partial shade to full shade. Still no blooms. She used miracle grow and still no bloom. The leaf has red tinged edges and is very healthy. Any advice as to what I need to do please? both of us are at our wits end

Don't know my species of plant

Received as a gift but without the essential information - the gift giver threw it out. It was a small twig - about 6". I read as much as I could about planting and this year it is now about 2 ft tall but has yet to flower. Since I don't know which one it is, I hesitate to prune. Any suggestions?

Hydrangea Plant

I received a beautiful purple Hydrangea plant for Mothers Day and am wondering if I can transplant it outside? I live in PEI, Canada, which is Zone 5a. Can I transplant once frost date has passed, or at anytime and will it come back year to year? Thanks!

No flowers

Too much fertilizer will encourage leaf growth over blooms. May need to cut down stems to the base and start the plant over. Replace as much old soil with fresh unfertilized soil. Do a soil test and just fertilize very little

Iolder hydrangeas- at least seven years old

I have older hydrangeas - at least seven years old They bloomed beautifully the first two years but since then only lush green leaves appear I keep hoping Should I dig them up and try again ??

too old to bloom?

Before you dig it up, if you have the plant tag, review the plant’s needs, especially re sunlight. If you do not, take a picture anad show it to domeone at a local nursery. You might be able to save it.

Smooth hydrangea

I ordered this online ,I didn’t think it would arrive until close to time to plant in my zone which is 8. How do I keep it alive until mid April? Paid to much for it !

limelight - full sun zone 9

Will Limelight hydrangea thrive in full sun in zone 9 if it gets plenty of water?

Limelight in zone 9

Water is important but it is not always the solution to extreme heat. If you can find a way to give the plant some protection (say, on the shadier side of a building) it will benefit more than it will with constant or excess water,

Hydrangea - seemanii

I have some climbing hydrangeas that I would like to grow up and over a fence. Just wondering how far apart I should plant them. Any ideas?
Thanks :)

Climbing Hy....

Plant them about 7 feet apart.

Moving from my home

It is late January. I want to dig up my small bush. It's about 20 inches tall. Can this be done? How would I go about doing it? It is special to me and I am moving from my current home. Thank you.

moving in January

Dig wide around it, taking as much soil as possible; don’t dig it to bare root. Put it into a pot and plant it in spring, well after the ground thaws.

No blooms

I have a Bobo hydrangea and Bloomstruck hydrangea, neither of which bloomed this year. The shrubs were healthy and vibrant, but out of 3 shrubs, no blooms! They are 3 years old. I live in zone 4b. I believe I pruned them in late fall last year certainly after the first frost. Could it be that I pruned them too early?

deer

I would like to plant some hydrangeas in my yard. Our town has an overpopulation of deer. Do deer eat hydrangeas? They seem to eat everything else. Thanks.

Deer and hydrangea

Well, deer will eat anything if they’re desparate enough. Let’s say, hydrangea is not their top choice or what we’d call “deer candy” such as hostas but they are “occasionally” damaged. Here is a list of the most deer-resistant plants: https://www.almanac.com/content/deer-resistant-plants

Hydrangea Plant

I have have a hydrangea plant that I suspect is a Nikko Blue Hydrangea by your description. It has beautiful huge flowers that are blue in color but are covered by huge leaves every year so you can't see the flowers unless you are right on top of the plant looking down. Would it hurt the plant if I cut back some of the leaves to expose the flowers? The plant is extremely healthy! I have another hydrangea plant that is covered with pink and blue blooms that everyone can see. These flowers are smaller than the other plant (but still large flowers) and is gorgeous but different variety than the one with the big leaves that hides the flowers. I hope you have a solution for me, I would love to have those huge flowers exposed for people to see. Thanks for any feedback, it would be greatly appreciated!

Trimming Leaves

Removing a few selected leaves won’t hurt a healthy plant. Feel free to prune off a couple leaves to expose the flowers—just don’t go overboard!

mophead hydrangea

I have a mophead hydrangea given to me in a pot for Mother's Day. There is healthy green growth emerging from the stems, but the original leaves have turned brown around their edges. Is it ok to just snip off the old leaves, or would this do harm to the plant?

Help! How to get rid of whatever is happening to my hydrangea

I have a relatively new hydrangea. Not sure which species, but it has spots on it or is being made something's dinner. I can try to do a picture if needed.

spots on the hydrangea

Take a couple of leaves to a local nursery and see if they can identify the problem. (We can not accept images here.)

Hydrangia

My hydrangia hasn’t bloomed in 5 yrs. I’ve watered it, fertilized it, taken off old brown stems, Left them there. someone told me never to take those off, the new bud is in there ???? I gotten advise to cut them down to 3” above the ground in the fall. Never did that. I’ve covered it with straw in the winter. We live in S/W PA. Help.

no blooms

There are numerous reasons why your plant might not be blooming. One that you have not mentioned: does it prefer sun? If so, is it now in shade (do to overgrowth, nearby construction, or taller new plantings casting shade)? Or vice versa?
We often recommend that folks contact their local cooperative extension and yours— Penn State—has a page on exactly this problem: https://extension.psu.edu/why-doesnt-my-hydrangea-bloom Master gardeners who serve in the coop extension usually welcome questions; you can probably reach out to this office.

We hope this helps!

Hydrangea

Our bush has grown to about 4&1/2 feet tall and has lush leaves BUT only 1 blossom. Last couple of years we were awash in flowers from this plant. Why would we have so few blooms this year. It gets morning sun and enough water.

White Snowball Hydrangea

Received a white snowball hydrangea for Mothers Day in gallon pot leaving it outside on patio. Now leaves are turning brown and curling up as well the blooms are turning brown. What should I be Doing?

what to do?

You should be reading the plant tag. Does the container indicate the source or plant “brand” (the wholesaler who potted and nurtured it)? If so, Google to see what it says about care. Or just Google “snowball hydrangea.” There are many hydrangea varieties and each has specific needs. Does the plant tag say it likes sun or shade? Did you water it? Gift plants are usually forced to flower…and once gifted left to fend for themselves. Do this and let us know what happens.