Do your Hydrangeas start to flop once they’ve bloomed?
Hydrangeas must be one of the most loved plants, and for good reason. These shrubs not only last a very long time in your landscape during the growing season, they offer so many varieties to choose from that you are bound to find one of them to work in your own yard.
I have a few of the varieties myself, and each of them have their pros and cons. Some need more care than the rest, but I love having these in my landscape. Now that they are starting to get accustomed to the growing conditions my yard offers, they are beginning to thrive and grow much more than the prior years.
This year I noticed one of my varieties began to flop much more than usual. For good reason too as these shrubs produced way more blooms than I’ve ever seen on them.
Here is a picture of my Bobo Hydrangeas, that receive part-sun in our backyard.
The first couple of years there had been fewer blooms, so I never had to address the floppy stems. I also did not believe this variety to be so floppy, since I always thought only the ‘Smooth Leaf’ variety like the Annabelle was notorious for this… not a Panicle type.
What Should I Do When My Hydrangea Stems Start To Flop?
Be Patient
If you notice after your hydrangeas start to produce blooms, and begin to lean away from the base towards the ground after a good rain, you may just need to give it some time for the water to evaporate during the day. Most often your hydrangea will perk right back up on its own.
Caution: Be gentle if you decide to give them a slight shake.
You may be thinking, I can just shake the excess water off to speed up the process and allow your hydrangea to spring back up much more quickly.
This is correct in a way, but if you choose to go this route, be very gentle. The stems, even though they can produce a very large bloom, are more than likely first year stems and not quite thick or strong enough to keep from snapping.
Try Giving It A “Haircut”
This year when I noticed that my Bobo’s were not springing back up after several days of no rain, and nothing that should keep them weighed down like they were, I realized this plant just couldn’t handle all the blooms it had produced.
I began to grow concerned about the shape my hydrangeas might be left with at the end of the growing season. I did not want this to develop an unsightly shape next Spring, since with the panicle variety, you should really only prune off about a third each year.
Step Back to Assess Your Situation
Looking my hydrangeas over, I could see many of my branches with first year stems had produced incredibly large flowers. I grabbed my pruners, and began to snip off the entire bloom, right above a couple leaves, from the thin stems.
This was hard for me to do as I wanted to keep these beautiful flowers, but I knew by removing the added weight, these stems had a better chance of growing stronger.
Note: If you don’t want to toss all of these blooms you snip off, cut the branch lower and add them to a vase to display indoors.
Keep Only Part of The Bloom
Another thing I tried was snipping only half of the bloom off the stem, and it worked!
I still had a couple months of the season to enjoy these Bobo Hydrangeas, so I didn’t want to snip off all of the blooms just yet. I began to start finding the stems that appeared thicker than the others, and snipped off only part of the bloom.
Panicle blooms have the cone shaped flowers which gave me a decent length to work with, where I could just take my pruners and cut the bloom off from the middle, as shown in the picture below.
This worked well in my opinion, and now I was left with ball-like blooms, which were still pretty.
I also started to notice as I was giving my hydrangeas a good haircut, the stems slowly started to spring back up in place.
They started looking even better the following day. My hydrangeas were much happier looking and I was no longer worried about the shrub having a permanent cascading arch of branches for the following season.
Are Your Hydrangeas Thirsty?
Other Reasons Your Hydrangeas Could Be Flopping Over
Some Hydrangeas May Need Water
Maybe your hydrangeas are flopping over for other reasons that have nothing to do with heavy blooms, weak stems, and/or rain.
Sometimes a hydrangea may simply be floppy because it’s thirsty. If you know it’s been warmer with little to no rain, you could just be dealing with thirsty hydrangeas.
Note: Some hydrangeas like the big leaf variety may just look wilted during the day when it is most hot, but be completely fine towards the end of the day once the sun is no longer as powerful.
If you know your hydrangea could use some water, just make sure to water at the base. Watering from the top, may cause the leaves to scorch if the sun is still out.
Some Hydrangeas Are Just Being Dramatic
As noted above, I have a ‘Big Leaf’ variety that appears as though it was dying during the day and if I don’t water it, the plant might just die for good. However, later I would notice that same plant perked right back up like nothing happened after the sun moved past the trees and about to retire for the evening.
Pay attention to this, as you wouldn’t want to be watering when it’s not needed. If you have one of these drama plants, just wait it out and see if it’s happier once it’s shaded again.
I still hand water a lot of my plants, so I usually keep tabs on which might need more water or perhaps need time to cool down. Call it lazy gardening, but if I can prevent having to spend my time watering my plants each time they look like they are giving up, I’m all for it. 🙂
Whatever your reason may be, I hope my experience with my own has given you some ideas on how to fix your floppy hydrangeas. I plan to continue this pruning method, and see how it works for me in the coming years. I may try to start earlier in the season as well and see if it can prevent any flopping to occur in the first place.
