Expert: Long Island Gardener - 6/9/2006

Question
Thanks for the great answer to my Hydrangia question . . .just a quick follow-up . . . when you say cut off the bloom, where on the stem is the best place to do that?  Right below the flower, or at the base of the plant, or does it matter?
Thanks again!  
Stan
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Followup To

Question -
I recently planted a great "Endless Summer Hydrangia" and it's doing great here in California.  I want it to thrive and blossom all summer, so when and where on the plant do I clip the blooms off to encourage new flowers and taller growth of the entire plant? (Do I wait for the flowers to die off, or before that?)  
Thanks for your time!
Stan

Answer -
Hello Stan, This is a plant with its own website (endlesssummerblooms.com/en/home) so that alone is very impressive. Actually, Endless Summer is a trademark of a Minnesota company specilizing in their own patented family of Hydrangea macrophylla.  

Whereas my ordinary, ancient Hydrangea blooms only on old wood, this one blooms on old and new wood.  Their website says this was discovered just lieing around a nursery in Georgia a few years ago and noticed by a researcher who was in fact searching for an everblooming Hydrangea.  

Like all blooming plants, you should indeed remove spent blooms -- first, to avoid the expenditure of energy into seeds and direct it to new flowers; second, to avoid production of ethylene gas, which accelerates fading in blooms and is emitted as flowers fade after bloom.  Cut the bloom off with a scissors a day or so after the bloom is no longer the pretty pink or blue you admire.  

The bush will grow as they say in God's time but you can feed it with a balanced fertilizer to help it reach full growth potential.  Since you live in California, I assume there is no danger of frost, so sudden freezing of new buds would not be a threat, is that true?

If your flowers are blue, you want to keep them bright, vivid blue by watering with a VERY diluted water/vinegar solution.  Don't put more than a teaspoon of vinegar to a quart of water will be plenty. Use this every time you water your hydrangea.  A dappled shade position will encourage your plant to bloom, but won't fade the color out in that bright California sun.

To cut these for a vase, select at peak bloom.  Remove most of the leaves, crush the bottom of the stem and place standing up in a pot of boiling water for one minute. Transfer to cold water and you're ready.  

Your Hydrangea is said to be perfectly suited for Zones 4 through 9, which is a very big window.  But I did not test drive these and I can't confirm that claim.  So far it seems you are doing very well with it.  

Thanks for writing, Stan.  Let me know if you have any more questions, and good luck with your beautiful new plant.  

Answer
Hi Stan, Thank you for your note.

Aesthetically speaking, you can cut the dead bloom off anywhere that looks right to you.

The only important thing is to remove the blue-petalled flowers.  Or, if you have a pink or white variety, the pink- or white-petalled flowers.  

Removing part of the stem won't hurt and it won't help.  This is so easy you can't miss.

If you cut just above a set of leaves, that part of the stem still on the plant will grow stronger.  Since you have a fairly young specimen, that is something to consider.

I hope this is clear but if you're not sure, send me an email at longislandgardener@yahoo.com and I will reply with a diagram of a Hydrangea stem and where to make your cut to get the spent flower off.

Most important thing is to water with the water/vinegar.  That will keep your plant's color vivid.