My dh, who knows very very very little about gardening, cut my 2 bigger hydrangeas (in January, I think?) to within 10 inches off the ground! He is very thorough and had the clippers and just wacked. I couldn't go out the back door for a week or 2 w/out boiling over, and anger is not an issue with me, normally. Good news will be gladly accepted.
Husband or hydrangea?
It depends on the type, but anabelle for example need to be trimmed like this every spring. Macrophyllas (on the other hand) should not be pruned except for after flowering. If you cut them back, and some buds are left on the 10" stems, shots to grow from these buds which will give fuller plants in 2007. But flowers for 2006 may be lost
This message was edited Mar 12, 2006 8:04 PM
True, but depends on the cultivar with macrophyllas. Don't despair yet. (Or kill him.....yet.) I have a large macrophylla that blooms on both old and new wood, so I get blooms at the beginning of the season, then again at the end of the season. I understand there are more of these types out there than the marketers would have us believe, so maybe you will be lucky! Do you konw what kind of hydrangeas they were? Macrophylla (large round ball shaped flowers) or paniculata (cone shaped flowers)?
I won't be back until Friday, but others on this forum will appreciate this information in order to respond.
Anastatia, all pruning and clipper type instruments should at all time be well hidden from men.
Gwendalou
Gwendalou is right! they can "check" them out under supervision. The vacuum cleaner, dust mops etc are a different story.
brings back memories of when I was down with my back and could hardly get out of bed. The shasta daisies had finished blooming (long row of them), I asked him to cut back the dead stems, he pulled them up by the roots, thinking they would come back, they didn;t. Then there was the time he was pulling weeds and pulled up all of the ground cover I had planted (I was grocery shopping). I dug them out of the trash and replanted them.
We now have an agreement, he doesn't do anything in the yard (other than cut the grass) unless I am home.
Yeah, and how about the time he pulled up two artichoke plants!!! Said they looked like a thistle to him! Well, duh! I told him to say the heck away from my stuff ~ after I stay away from his!
Grrrrr......
Sanna
remember. . . .revenge is good served cold!
I value Pixydish's comments and love what Gwendalou had to say!
This whole thread makes me even more grateful for my husband who controls the lawn, vegetables and berries and I have the rest. He always asks how far back I want things cut.
You don't think my expertise with a cleaver has any bearing on this, do you?
oh, pirl! I know the cleaver hasn't anything to do with it, 'cause on another thread you said you married your "sunshine."
Well, in my house we've come to the conclusion that I am responsible for all cutting other than large expanses of blackberries, unless specifically directed otherwise, in which case I might as well not waste my breath. For my DH it must all be cut, or not at all.
I suspect it is the "If I do it wrong, then I won't be asked to do it again" Syndrome. In this case, he is right.
He is my "sunshine" but he does leave the room when I take out the cleaver: wise man.