How to Prune a Hydrangea Tree

This post was originally from 2018, yet relevant every spring to anyone that has a PeeGee hydrangea in their garden. I’m hoping to plant a PeeGee hydrangea tree at our new townhouse this spring, and then I can practice my pruning skills for it once again.

Late winter early spring is the best time to prune your PeeGee hydrangeas. I’ll give you tips on identifying a PeeGee, as well as where and how to prune it!

Identifying a PeeGee

Here are some things I’ve learned about the hydrangea tree we inherited when we moved into our 100 year old house…

The only variety of hydrangea that can be made into tree form is a Paniculata hydrangeas, or for short PeeGee. PeeGee hydrangeas are in the Paniculata family, so to speak. The flower shape on a PeeGee is a an elongated cone shape, unlike other varieties of hydrangea which are mophead or ball shape.

We for sure have a Paniculata hydrangea. 1. It is a tree shape and 2. The flowers are very cone shaped.

Here’s a close up of the flower from last summer:

Gorgeous, isn’t it? Do you see that elongated bloom starting pink at the base with the tip ending in white?

Save It or Trash It?

When we first bought this house, a couple years ago, the landscaping had been so abused, that we weren’t even sure if this hydrangea tree would be worth saving.

The previous ‘lawn care’ people did a horrible job… it was obvious how every single tree was hit with lawnmower and weed wacker over and over again! This hydrangea tree was no exception. Everything that was close to the edge, where the lawnmower could get to it, was so beat-up, it was eventually killed by the abuse, leaving only the back branch still alive.

Pruning Makes a Huge Difference

But we pruned it up early last spring, according to our new found knowledge for PeeGee hydrangeas and it did beautifully last summer. Here is a comparison:

Basic Pruning Tips

So how to prune, that is the question…

Here are the basic pruning tips that I have found always apply to every pruning job where the flower grows on new growth:

Once you apply these basic rules, depending on the particular type of tree or bush you’re pruning, there may be a few fine tune rules to apply… such as with apple trees, cutting off the upward branches or suckers, or like with these hydrangeas, make the actual cut on the branch just after the first bud, (I’ll explain that better a little further down)

When to Prune

Then the biggest question is when to prune.

For instance, lilacs need to be pruned as soon as they are done flowering, because unlike PeeGee hydrangeas, lilacs bloom on old growth. That means for lilacs, next year’s blooms will be formed on the branches that are growing this year.

I find the best time to prune a PeeGee is in the early spring, before it starts to grow and spend energy on branches you’re going to cut off. This way, you’re also able to see the buds to know where to snip.

How to Prune

I’ll give you a quick run down of pruning our PeeGee hydrangea.

This is what it looked like this spring, after a long winter. Keep in mind that we already did the major shaping last spring…

With a bin to collect the dead flowers and unwanted branches, a ladder and a clean, sharp pair of pruners like THESE, along with a long handled pair of loppers, we set to work.

It works great with a second pair of eye, but you can do it by yourself if you don’t have a willing partner. For us, with my husband on the ladder with the pruners, and me on the ground, pointing to him which one and where to cut, using a long skinny branch for the pointing,  (I wonder what the neighbors think sometimes) worked really well.

Don’t be Overwhelmed

It can seem like a daunting task with branches everywhere…

but I find it best to just jump in and start cleaning it up, applying the basic pruning tips…

1. Is it crossing over? Cut it out.
2. Is it a small weak branch? Cut it off.
3. How do I want the shape of the tree to be? Cut it accordingly.
4. Place your cuts above the bud bumps where you want new growth to sprout from.

Where to Cut

When you’re pruning the old branches off of a PeeGee, snip it above the little bump, that is the ‘bud’ on the branch, and this is where the new growth and new branch will sprout out. If you left the entire branch without pruning it shorter, the entire branch would sprout branches on all the bud bumps… which is too many, and would result in them all being weak, with small flowers.

And before you know it, you’re getting to a point of ‘cleaning’ the branches out that it is making sense and looking a bit less like a bad hair day and more like…  well, I’d love to say a lovely tree formed shrub, but it will look a bit barren…

Wait for it…

Honestly, have no fear… It will come back and be lovely!

The new growth is sprouting right where those little bud bumps were that we carefully pruned above! What looks like a couple leaves now is what will grow into a sweeping 2-3′ foot’ long branch with a huge flower head at the end of it.

There really is a lot of grace in pruning a PeeGee hydrangea… They really want to live, and by pruning it, the energy they have to live will be even more concentrated on what you left them to put it into.

You Can Do It!

So be encouraged to get pruning, because now you know how to prune a Hydrangea tree! It’s not so hard after all, especially if you remember the basic pruning tips…

Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate you reading along.

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