Sodden hydrangea heads
Calina
Posts: 2
My hydrangeas have given me a tremendous floriferous display this year but now, after weeks of heavy rain and now high winds, the "mopheads" are looking very sorry and are bending the branches over almost to the ground and covering other plants underneath. Should I cut off the sodden, rotting and fading heads now - risking frost damage this winter - to help the bending branches recover? I live at sea level on the west coast of Scotland.
0
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I would just give them a gentle shake when it's not raining ... they'll be a lot lighter then.
Unfortunately there are FAR too many heads for that - the branches are so heavy they are already lying on the ground - and the rain is too heavy and frequent ...... I would have to spend all my days running in and out to shake the water off them..!! The blustery winds rather than shaking the water from the flowers seems just to batter them more. I thought my garden was sheltered until this year - we have had frequent north/north west winds, which is not a direction we get very often at this time of year. Think I might have no choice but to cut some heads off - might not get as many flowers next year, but they will come again if I can save the main plant. This is a picture of one of them (taken last year) -
The beauty of them is that they come right down to the ground, they suppress weeds, I wouldn't cut any of it down, but then I wouldn't have underplanted anything there. This one is 15' across and about 6' tall. You may be sorry when you don't get so many flowers next year.