Cutting back Hydrangeas
Questions? Carol Stocker will be on line live in a chat room Thursday, Nov. 5, from 1-2 p.m. at Boston.com to answer your gardening questions.
Don't cut back hydrangea shrubs that produce colored flowers, though you can cut off the old flower heads for neatness. If your colored hydrangeas failed to bloom last summer, try covering them completely with a mound of bark mulch or wrapping them with burlap to protect next year's flower buds, which are often formed on this year's wood. Uncover the bushes and their buds at the end of March. This is not necessary with most white hydrangeas, which are more cold hardy than colored hydrangeas. Annabelle, the popular three food hydrangea with giant white flower heads in summer can be cut down to the ground now. Do not cut down Pee-Gee hydrangea trees, which have woody stems.
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Carol Stocker has been writing about gardening for the Boston Globe for 30 years. She has won the top newspaper writing award of the Garden Writer's Association of American three times. Her newest book is "The Boston Globe Illustrated New England Gardening Almanac."
