Hello, I'm new to this forum, but not to DG. I've been having a Hydrangea plant for > 6 years and it remains in a pot. I've changed the top soil 2-3 times and entirely, once I think. Since this needs some shade, I've not put it in the ground in a permanent place because it needed to be moved into a shady area in summer. Mysore is in the plains and these hydrangeas are found in the cooler hills some 100 miles away from Mysore. Those spent blooms... are they to be removed off?
It's really a matter of personal preference--here people will sometimes leave them on since they provide some winter interest, but I suspect in your climate you don't need to worry about adding winter interest so if you don't like looking at the spent blooms there's no harm in cutting them off.
Does cutting them off in some way help more branching? It surprises me that it stayed this short all these years, in spite of my cutting spent blooms off. I did not know about that 'winter interest'!
If you just snip off the flowerheads I don't think that'll increase branching. And if you want to do more pruning than just snipping off the flowerheads, you have to be careful about when you prune--most of these bloom on old wood so if you prune in the fall/winter or in the spring before they bloom then you'll be cutting off the part that would have the blooms and then you'll have to wait a year for them to bloom again. Your plant is small enough that I probably wouldn't prune it--they don't need to be pruned unless they're getting big and overgrown. (yours may be small because you've got it in a pot rather than in the ground--I've found mine grow slower when I keep them in pots, and there are also some cultivars that are smaller than others to begin with)
I'll choose an ideal place for it and plant in the ground - that was my plan, but I now can think of a more 'secure' place for this lovely plant and that would be in a place where it gets filtered light.. right? That way, more branches and more blooms. I love to see that day when that happens. As per your suggestion, I'll leave it uncut and see what happens. We do snip off the blooms to promote more branching. I thought this would be like it. But I'm such a novice you see!
When planting in pots/containers, you must consider "bump up" planting. In order for the plant to grow larger it must have more root space. As soon as the roots reach the sides of your container go 2" to the next size pot. The formula is "The spread of the roots, will make the spread of the leaf umbrella". Hence your bonzai is always in a small container and the leaf umbrella is manicured accordingly. helene
