When Is It Too Late to Cut Back Hydrangeas?

The abundant, round blooms of hydrangeas are a classic sight of summer. Their blue, pink, and purple flowers are a cheerful and reliable perennial that seems to quickly sprout out of nothing but bare sticks in spring.

But after the bloom season is over, you’ve probably seen gardeners cut hydrangeas all the way back to the ground, but when is it too late to cut back hydrangeas? And do you need to cut hydrangeas back at all?

It all depends on the type of hydrangea you have growing in your garden, and understanding the distinction between the two types of hydrangeas is the first step in knowing when you should prune. Some hydrangeas are new wood hydrangeas. These hydrangeas bloom on new wood each season, and their buds won’t form until spring, weeks ahead of their summer bloom season.

Meanwhile, old wood hydrangeas actually produce their blooms seasons ahead of the iconic summer flowers. Those buds could first appear in fall or winter, meaning a hard prune could accidentally remove all of the potential blooms for the next summer.

Here’s exactly what you need to know about when to cut back your hydrangeas and when it’s too late to prune hydrangeas.

The Best Time of Year to Prune Hydrangeas

Most hydrangeas benefit from some pruning to help them keep their classic round, bushy shape, but not every hydrangea should be cut back all the way to the ground. Ideal timing is totally dependent on whether you have new wood or old wood hydrangeas.

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New Wood Hydrangeas

New wood hydrangeas include panicle (peegee) hydrangeas and smooth hydrangeas. Because these hydrangeas don’t form their blooms until the spring, just before their summer flowering season, you have more flexibility in when you choose to prune.

If you want to get rid of the old blooms and dead leaves during the winter, then that is a great time to cut back your hydrangeas ahead of the spring growing season. However, you can also wait until spring as long as you prune before the first summer buds appear.

When you’re pruning, you can cut as far as roughly a foot above the ground. However, be sure not to prune too close to the ground or you could end up damaging the plant.

Old Wood Hydrangeas

Old wood hydrangeas are much more finicky when it comes to pruning. These include oakleaf hydrangeas, climbing hydrangeas, and big leaf hydrangeas. Old wood hydrangeas bloom on old wood—rather than growing an entirely new shrub each year, they grow back on the same stems. Their buds begin to form in the late summer, nearly a year before their bloom season. This means your ideal time to prune is short-lived. Wait too long, and you could risk trimming off next year’s blooms.

Prune your old wood hydrangeas right after summer’s blooms have faded.

Why Do You Need to Prune Hydrangeas?

Hydrangeas do not actually need to be pruned in terms of their own health and maintenance. But, for old wood hydrangeas, pruning helps to keep a more compact shape. If you don’t prune them (and you don’t have to), they’ll grow taller each year.

Pruning them can help maintain the bushy look that encourages a mountain of flowers to emerge each summer. If you do not prune at all, the hydrangea will eventually become leggy, with woody stems reaching out in every direction. Blooms may also become smaller.

Pruning new wood hydrangeas helps stimulate growth for the following season, as well as clean up the plant to keep it neat and tidy. Again, pruning is not necessary, but it will give your hydrangeas a more tailored look.

How to Prune Hydrangeas

Different hydrangeas have different requirements for how to prune, and, while there are some varieties have specific nuances around pruning, they can generally be split into old wood versus new wood.

How to Prune Old Wood Hydrangeas

Here’s how to prune old wood hydrangeas in summer after the blooms have faded.

1. Prune spent blooms: Remove any dried blooms to keep the plant looking tidy.
2. Remove dead stems: Nick stems to see if they are alive (green inside) or dead (brown inside). Remove the dead stems.
3. Prune for shape: The only time to remove stems with blooms is when you’re pruning for shape to keep your hydrangea from getting too tall, leggy, or wide.

How to Prune New Wood Hydrangeas

Here’s how to prune new wood hydrangeas ahead of their growth season in the spring.

1. Remove dead branches: Similar to old wood hydrangeas, you should remove any dead branches. These can be cut down to the ground.
2. Prune for shape: New wood hydrangeas will grow back fully year after year, but you can also prune for shape with a light trimming.
3. Prune back hard-to-encourage growth: If you want to encourage the largest blooms and most growth, prune back the hydrangea to just a foot off the ground. You might feel like you’re pruning too far, but you’re not—it will grow back.