Hi Friends!

I love strolling through our shrub lot and looking at all the beautiful blooms. One of my favorite shrubs is the Annabelle Hydrangea. Annabelle’s have long been a staple of landscapes due to their easy care and long-lasting summer flowers, but in certain spots they can have the annoying tendency to become floppy as the large leaves and the petals of their huge white flowers can hold rainwater. This can especially weigh down the newer, thinner wood that grows after a spring cutback pruning of an Annabelle. While I’m not particularly fond of pruning, especially my nails (meowouch!), I’m told Anabelle Hydrangeas are.

A purrrfect tip that can help alleviate this floppiness is to do a second minor pruning of some of the stems after the Annabelle has grown to about 18 inches, around Memorial Day most years. Trimming about 3-4 inches off the top (to just above a set of leaves) will briefly direct the plant’s energy into thickening those stems, before they resume growing. This should help keep them upright when the flowers start opening up later in the summer. The flowers on the cut stems may come in a bit later compared to the untouched wood, so leave some of them intact to still enjoy the earliest possible blooms!

If you’re in need of new pruners, we have a great selection of garden tools here. Plus, then you get see me! As always, don’t forget to say hi and give me some pets.