Hydrangea job gardeners should do now to 'double the amount of glorious blooms'
Hydrangeas are arguably the most popular plants in the UK, but to see them thriving later on in the year experts say there's one thing you need to do right now.
If your green fingers have been itching to get back out into the garden then it's time and this easy hack can help your hydrangeas double their glorious blossom. It's time to dust off your gardening gloves and equipment and get your spring garden summer-ready, before BBQ and sun-bathing season. Hydrangeas come in a variety of sizes and colours from pink, blue, white, purple and green.
Whilst pruning is usually encouraged to help plants grow more healthily, gardening enthusiasts in the Hydrangeas UK Facebook group, have declared it's simply too early to prune them. They have instead recommended deadheading the shrub now, the Express reports.
If you don't know what this is fear not, it simply means removing the flowers from a plant. Usually, the parts you will be deadheading are aged, they are the flowers that are no longer considered to be aesthetically pleasing.
The conversation started online after a gardener asked if he should be deadheading his hydrangea now. Posting a picture of his hydrangea in full bloom and the state it's currently in now, he said, "Interestingly or maybe not, these were all cuttings from my partner's grandpa's huge plant. The reason I'm posting is, has anyone deadheaded yet?"
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The man's post sparked much dialogue, and the majority of his green-fingered fellows were on board with deadheading his hydrangeas. Commenting on his post, one helpful gardener said: "I deadheaded mine on Monday and I'll keep an eye on the weather for the next couple of weeks, any forecast for freezing temperatures and I'll cover at night."
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Another said: "I deadheaded mine yesterday morning. I always do it around this time of year."
Another commenter said: "I deadheaded this morning, I usually deadhead when they run brown, but someone told me to leave till February and by doing this I can see double the amount of glorious blooms coming through compared to last year. Very excited to see how it grows."
Whilst there was excitement around deadheading the plants, there was also a word of warning on what not to due and that included pruning. Someone else warned: "You can deadhead them now but don't prune them. If you prune now, when they have new growth you could lose the flower buds as well as the leaves."
What deadheading achieves is a diversion of energy, other parts of the plant are allowed to grow once the parts that have lived their course are removed. The plant can focus its energy on new growth. This practice is usually assigned to the blooming season, once the colder temperatures have passed the hydrangeas won’t need protection.
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