From planning to planting - complete guides here. While they could be pruned in fall , we highly advise waiting until late winter/early spring. Find your next read at amazon. Learn more about when to prune hydrangeas for the biggest, brightest blooms. Transform your garden and landscape with books. Some hydrangeas bloom on old wood, which means the buds will appear on existing branches throughout the fall and winter. · for some varieties of hydrangea, like panicle hydrangeas, pruning is fine in the fall. Our in-house hydrangea expert amy draiss highly recommends waiting until spring to trim to reduce the risk of injury. Pruning is just one thing you can do to see your hydrangeas thrive in spring. Fast shipping with prime. Find out how and when to trim each type of hydrangea so you get a healthy, shapely shrub and plenty of flowers, too. · fall isnt the best time to prune unless the plant is dormant. Others, like bigleaf hydrangeas, should really be cut back right after they finish blooming before the end of summer. Should hydrangeas be pruned in the fall? · you can prune this group in fall or very early spring. · with that in mind, there are several types of hydrangeas you should never prune in the fall. So, if you were to prune the shrub heavily in fall , you’re cutting off all the blooms for the next growing season. Should hydrangeas be cut back before winter? The key to giving your hydrangeas a trim without whacking off future flowers is knowing what kind of hydrangeas you have. Smooth hydrangeas can be pruned back to the ground in late winter or early spring. Should hydrangeas be pruned while deadheading? · for some types, fall pruning will ruin next years flowers. · but while many perennials could use a good pruning in the fall to clean up your garden and reduce the chance of plant damage over the cold winter, you should keep the pruning shears (mostly) away from your hydrangea plants.