|
|
Article: CUT BACK HYDRANGEA WITH ITS TWO-YEAR BLOOM CYCLE IN MIND.(Lifestyle)
- Article from:
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Article date:
- January 26, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Q: I have a large lace-cap hydrangea shrub that has grown out of control. Can I cut it back now that the leaves have fallen or do I need to wait until spring? It was full of blooms this past summer and the mild, dry autumn dried the blossoms and turned them a lovely shade of purple. _ K.M., Olympia
MB: You can perform surgery on your hydrangea now or wait until early spring, but if you want to make sure the plant is still under the anesthetic of winter dormancy, do the operation before the buds show green. The important thing to remember about these shrubs is that they bloom on 2-year-old or mature wood, so the stems that bloomed this summer can be cut back hard ...