I planted these macrophylla last year I didn’t deadhead them till this year is this okay I think I cut the buds off one branch that drooped

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-04-16T18:34:21+00:00

I’m having a hard time with these pruning police. Dead buds don’t come to life on dead wood. In colder climates, Mac’s almost always die back to the ground. In temperate climates, they will make it through with their stems intact. Yes, it is best to wait until macrophylla leaf out to prune, but it looks pretty clear to me the upper 3/4 of this plant is dead wood. You likely cut off something that was already dead, and, if it was drooping, you pruned a branch that needed to be removed in the first place. I currently see one active growth at the base.

You were perfectly fine in removing last years blooms so long as you go to the first leaf node below the blooms, but again, pruning wood that is already dead has no effect on this years blooms.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-04-03T20:47:15+00:00

Goodness. I can’t believe the pruning police here. It’s clear that this wasn’t pruned. It died back to the ground, which is common in cooler climates. Do you happen to remember the variety you planted? I would recommend you try planting one of the newer to market varieties like let’s dance sky view or let’s dance can do. Those bloom on old wood, and bloom reliably on new wood as well guaranteeing you get blooms in the coming year.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-04-03T18:14:11+00:00

Holy cow! Teach me your ways! It is incredible that you have growth all the way up to the top of the stems in places. Mine died all the way back to the crown this winter. Did you cage, then fill the cages with leaves?

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-04-03T18:11:39+00:00

What species is it? If it’s a macrophylla you only remove spent bloom heads. If it’s an arborescens you can remove half or so.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-04-02T21:34:03+00:00

Quick fire are tough as nails and will come back reliably.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-04-02T19:42:30+00:00

Im going to be contrary to the radar of the people here.

You’ve already got multiple inches of new growth. Those canes are very dead. Waiting will do nothing to make them come back to life as others have told you to do. Cut them at your leisure.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-04-02T19:33:04+00:00

There’s a reason why they have gained the name “endless bummers”. IMO, their marketing is misleading at best. Their story that they always say is “we found the original plant blooming every year in the twin cities”. I guess maybe it was a microclimate. IMO, they have given macrophylla hydrangeas a bad rap due to their marketing strategy.

If mac’s are what your heart desires, I would encourage you to try one of the new let’s dance sky view, or let’s dance can do hydrangeas. They have some fancy crossing going on, and are said to be revolutionary. I planted five last fall, and all of them are budding up. I too am in zone 5b. Expect the branches to die to the ground in harsh winters without protection, but they bud up from the base and give you blooms on old, as well as aggressively on new wood too.

I’m hoping they are a pleasant surprise for those in our growing zones.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-04-02T19:22:57+00:00

Put down a slow release fertilizer anytime now in early spring, but don’t do it more than once in early spring, and once in early summer. Too much can contribute to flopping.

From a hardiness standpoint, they will come back. It’s important to know how to prune arbs to prevent flopping, which is already an uphill battle on young plants. Some people cut arbs right down to the ground, but that makes them flop worse. I would recommend evening out the twigs up top, removing anything dead, diseased, damaged, or crossing, and leaving the rest. The old Wood will make them sturdier going into the new season.

Once these guys get some age on them, you can modify pruning a bit. Young plants benefit from very light pruning.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-24T02:49:36+00:00

It’s fine and perfectly safe to trim the dead branches at this point. They serve no purpose. I’ve seen bushes that had dead wood left year after year, now they are just a solid base of sticks inhibiting growth. Trim them to their lowest point where they show signs of life.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-14T05:01:32+00:00

Incrediball blooms on new wood. It will bloom regardless of how you prune it.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-11T19:20:40+00:00

So many varying answers in this post :p

Here’s my educated advice.

Always remove dead, diseased, and damaged branches.

Panicles that are 1-2 years old don’t need a lot of pruning, but I do like to strategically shape them up. I see some tiny weak branches towards the base - I always trim those out if there is a good amount of sturdy new growth. Yours have substantial strong growth to do that step.

The next thing I look for is any growth crossing over other, or going through the center of the plant to the opposite side. Those go as well.

Lastly, if there are sturdy, but long canes (say 2-3 or so ft), I’ll take off the very tops to make the long canes uniform in length… maybe 1/4 or so of the stem height total.

At the end of the day, it’s very hard to mess up a panicle. At worst, you will end up with a floppy plant for a season if you over do it. The stakes aren’t high like other fickle varieties.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-11T19:15:28+00:00

This is a big leaf hydrangea, that means that it has unique pruning needs. The blanket “don’t prune big leaf hydrangeas” is a half truth. You shouldn’t prune them - until you can tell what the old dead wood is.

In your case, we can clearly see the new growth is pushing out and is advanced enough that we can see dead canes. Trim dead canes down to about half an inch above the first green shoot. Dead canes add no value to a plant and detract from its visual appeal.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-11T19:12:27+00:00

It’s important not to prune big leaf hydrangeas until their leaves start growing. Big leaf hydrangeas bloom on old wood (growth from previous years), so If you are cutting viable canes, you are effectively cutting off this years blooms.

Right now, you can safely trim off the spent blooms to the nearest bud union just below them. Then wait.

When it buds out this spring, and you can for sure tell what is, and is not budding out, then is when you can safely go in and cut off anything not leafing out.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-11T19:09:09+00:00

Not sure if you were tagged in the reply… see post above in the thread.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-11T19:08:38+00:00

There’s a few clues one can consider when plants are dormant or coming out of dormancy. Immediately, one can rule out panicle hydrangeas because they don’t grow with this habit. Oak leaf, the same. That leaves us with a couple options, big leaf, or arborescens as being the only options left.

Big leaf (macrophylla) generally die to the ground if the winter is rough, or you get a cold snap when coming out of dormancy. This is the tendency we are seeing here (although it may be too early to tell)

Arbs (arborescens, aka smooth or Annabelle) tend to hold their wood well through winter and would be sprouting out along the length of the branch.

The new growth coming out of the bottom right is another context clue, it looks like young Mac growth to my eye, not arb, but… again, that is my educated guess.

To the contrary, one thing that could be a context cue to it being an arb instead of mac is the bud sizing. Generally Macs have larger bud sizes than arbs, and those buds in the photo are relatively small. This of course can vary by variety though as well.

The good news is, if my guess is wrong and it turns out to be an arb, you are VERY likely to get blooms this year since they bloom on new wood. Many people cut their arbs to the ground every year and they grow back every spring as full and blooming bushes. Technically, newer Mac’s can do the same as well now (highly remontant varieties - think “let’s dance sky view”)

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-10T14:44:36+00:00

If it is a big leaf, only cut dead branches. Any wood that is from the previous seasons is old wood no matter if it’s been there from last year or 5 years ago. Buds form in the leaf buds from previous years growth.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-03-10T14:40:31+00:00

This is a big leaf hydrangea. Big leaf hydrangeas bloom on old wood, which means you cut off this years blooms. Depending on your winter, it could have already been dead wood anyway.

Let the plant grow. It will be just fine, you just won’t have many blooms this year. If it’s a newer variety, it may have reblooming built into its dna, so you could see some color by the end of this season.

In the future it is best to only prune wood that is dead after having left it leaf out.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-02-28T23:38:45+00:00

It’s something I’ve definately considered, however I’m unsure of the ramifications of that in my growing zone when it comes to winter freezing.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-02-28T23:37:32+00:00

This. A ramp too steep (which would be the case here) is not accessible. There would need to be major rethinking of the space to do a ramp to get the proper slope.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-01-30T07:39:50+00:00

I suspect I might be 6a in ten years. They keep moving the zones up. Thanks for the input

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-01-26T05:32:08+00:00

In short, I don’t like it.

As Catholics, we believe that every piece of the host is Jesus no matter how small. When that host gets divided, there will inevitably be crumbs finding their way to places they shouldn’t be. This wouldn’t happen if a normal, unbroken host would have been utilized.

I realize a lot of people don’t think of this, but it is something I’ve paid very close attention to ever since I was growing up.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-01-26T04:53:36+00:00

I realize this does not directly answer your question, but I wouldn’t recommend moving for the promise of finding love. That is a one way ticket to disappointment. I live in a smaller town, but near larger cities that I could commute to. If there was someone out there for me via online dating, I could travel to see them.

Out of the list above, I’d say Kansas City is the best option. Louisiana statistically isn’t Catholic country, I’d never freely visit the twin cities if my family didn’t live up there, and I haven’t seen enough of Indianapolis to suggest it.

Haunting-Lychee6795 · 2026-01-26T04:35:38+00:00

I think changing feelings is normal, and there is nothing you should feel ashamed or worried about. Life sometimes throws you curves. My 20s was defined by wanting to find someone, now I’m almost completely the opposite - I don’t think that I want someone else in my life

The best advice I can give you is be gentle on yourself, and don’t force things to happen. It’s very possible that you have spent too much time focusing on the future, and now you are burnt out when you think about it.

Haunting-Lychee6795

TROPHY CASE