How to save this climbing hydrangea?

willjohnston4

Hello gardeners!
I am trying to save a climbing hydrangea which has been growing into a dead locust tree over the last 2 decades, and provides great shade for our outdoor dining table. The locust is about to fall over and so im contemplating how much of the hydrangea I can cut without killing it, with the goal to build a steel pergola and retrain it to grow into that. Ive made a video which shows the situation in more detail, any advice is appreciated!   https://youtu.be/0ccJeXZNNCk

willjohnston4

Bump! Can anyone give me some advice?

Fairygirl

I can't open your link Will - it closed my computer down,  but you can prune back climbing hydrangeas quite hard without any problem, providing they're healthy, and you do it appropriately and carefully.
However, as it's clearly a mature plant, I'd be inclined to do it a bit at a time, so that the stress is minimised.
Have you got a photo which shows the two specimens, so that we can see how they're growing together? That might be better for giving advice. 

willjohnston4

Fairygirl said:

I can't open your link Will - it closed my computer down,  but you can prune back climbing hydrangeas quite hard without any problem, providing they're healthy, and you do it appropriately and carefully.
However, as it's clearly a mature plant, I'd be inclined to do it a bit at a time, so that the stress is minimised.
Have you got a photo which shows the two specimens, so that we can see how they're growing together? That might be better for giving advice. 

Hi Fairygirl, thanks for the advice! The video is a youtube link, can you check it again? (I just checked and it works). Im traveling at the moment so can't take a photo.