When is the best time to prune (and transplant) hydrangeas?
I think I have the mophead type. The one I want to transplant is about 5 inches by 5 inches. Answer: Mopheaded hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) are the “typical” pink or blue large-flowered hydrangeas that are commonly found across Western Pennsylvania. Your pruning question is the most common one I receive both on the radio and via e-mail, as it seems that when a hydrangea doesn’t bloom, the gardener assumes they have done something wrong. Sometimes this is the case, but mostly, it’s just the way things go. Mophead hydrangeas bloom on old wood, meaning the flower buds are produced on the previous year’s stems. This means that all those brown, seemingly dead sticks you see in early spring contain all the blooms for the coming summer. If you cut off the brown twigs, you’ll remove all the flowers. If you do any pruning between August and the following May, you’ll be cutting off the pending flowers. Or, if we have a late spring freeze, the buds will be damaged and the plant will not blo
