Hydrangeas should produce big and abundant flowers each year, but it can be disheartening to see lacklustre or few blooms growing on this beautiful plant. 

If gardeners are seeing no results with their hydrangeas then they are likely doing something wrong, but there are three simple steps to try to get thriving hydrangea flowers. 

Rochelle Greayer, a gardening and landscaping expert who is the founder of Pith and Vigor, has shared that the secret to growing “blooms that are bigger than a basketball” is to prune hydrangeas vigorously 

She said: “Here is the trick – CUT THEM BACK HARD. Very hard. Don’t panic, but the trick is to take every branch down to just a few inches above the soil.  

“It is scary, but trust me on this one.  Cutting like this is going to make you have a very different plant than what was growing naturally. “

Rochelle added: “You need to understand that once you cut hard, you are not going to have a bushy bush. You will instead have long sticks with pom poms on the ends.  

“This is the sacrifice you are making – a nice landscape shrub or a weird-looking shrub – but the flowers are at least six times bigger. And if you took them to a farmers market they might sell out in minutes.” 

However, it should be noted that you should only prune new wood hydrangeas at this time of year. 

Old wood hydrangeas such as big leaf or oakleaf hydrangeas have already developed their buds for next year’s growth, and pruning them now will destroy next year’s flowers. 

One of the most important steps to pruning hydrangeas is being able to identify the type of hydrangea plant so you do not prune it at the wrong time. 

Old wood hydrangeas typically blooms in early summer while new wood hydrangeas typically flower later on in the summer. 

New wood hydrangeas also have fresh green stems that grow quickly while old wood hydrangeas have woodier and tougher growth. 

According to Rochelle, if you are struggling to get hydrangeas to flower then you should buy new wood hydrangeas such as limelight hydrangeas, but she also recommends panicle hydrangeas (peegee) or smooth hydrangeas (hydrangea arborescens) due to how easy they are to take care of. 

Rochelle said: “I would start with Limelight and then move on to other varieties as you get confident. 

“Limelights are very adaptable and easy to grow, tough as nails, and it is hard to truly mess them up permanently so you can go forth in confidence that you aren’t going to kill them.”

It may seem obvious, but if your hydrangeas are still struggling to bloom after pruning then it is best to check to make sure they are being watered enough and that their soil is well-draining so the roots are not constantly soaking in water. 

Rochelle said: “In my experiments, better soil and more regular water does matter to size and will lead to bigger blooms.  I actually suspect that water is more key than soil quality.”

She added: “Wet roots and poorly draining soil are the worst things for these plants – the root ball will rot and you may not get any flowers.” 

Cutting hydrangeas back and making sure they are being watered properly are the “special secret” to getting bigger and lusher hydrangea blooms.