When do you cut back a hydrangea bush in Indiana?

Question

What do you do in the fall before freezing

Actually they are pink and blue. They had flowers last year however none this year. Boo Hoo. Someone told me last year to put coffee grounds around it. ??? I moved here(Northwest Indiana) March of 2006 and it was already planted. It is still a pretty small bush.

Answer 1

Thank you for identifying where you're at, that really helps us to answer your question.

The problem is why do you want to cut back your Hydrangea? not all forms need to or should be cut back. We need to find out what sort of Hydrangea you have. The one I think you have is smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens). This one has a large white flower in mid-late summer, that dry, the shrubs could be as tall as 5' or so. If you want to keep it smaller, you can cut them back this time of year (I'd really wait until it's lost it's leafs).

The remaining forms, vary a bit, none of which I'd just cut back. The ones I'd avoid pruning in the fall are Large-leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) and oak leafed hydrangea (H. quercifolia).

If you need some additional info. add it to your question, and I'll try to revisit it.

Good luck-
I hope that this helps

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I'm sure yours is one of the Macrophylla kinds, or at lease allied to it. I would not cut it back. These kinds of hydrangea bloom off of old wood, not newer wood (there are a few exceptions that have been introduced recently, there's no way of knowing if you have one of those or not). Once the leaves have browned and fallen off (this could happen quite late, like after Thanksgiving), tie the branches together, near the tips. Layer 3-6" of mulch around the base of the plant (you'll remove the mulch in the spring). Once you see new growth in the spring, cut back the dead. You should have flowers then. Fertilize with a flowering shrub fertilizer. Coffee will help make the soil more acidic, which in turn will make the flowers more blue.

Answer 2

Hydrangea are very easy to grow and they come back year after year even after severe pruning. See attached website for pruning advice.

Answer 3

use the website that the lady above gave you and find out WHAT KIND of hydrangea you have, because the pruning times and ways are different for different kinds!!!!... if you prune the wrong one at the wrong time, you'll get no flowers!!....