Marianne's Response
Pee Gee Hydrangea woes
Hi Marianne. My Pee Gee Hydrangea is not happy…Last year very happy, except at the end of the season the flowers not only turned beautiful pink, but the leaves did too, which was odd.
This year the plant was slow to leaf, but finally did, seemingly happy.
But woe is me, in the picture you can see that the plant looks “droopy”. Sort of like lack of water, but not.
Question: At this point should I trim off all of the leaves, and let it put energy into the tree?
Or?
As always, thanks for your help & advise. Cathy
Posted by Cathy McLeod on August 27, 2024
Marianne's Response
No do not trim off the leaves. The hydrangea needs them to make food for the roots. The droopy could be due to the heavy blooms and in the image you sent it does not look like the foliage is diseased. The Pee Gee hydrangea looks healthy but heavy from the blooms or from rain. You should decide if you want smaller blooms but more blooms or fewer blooms but huge blooms that will wilt. For less of a droopy look do not prune your hydrangea in early spring when it would be recommended to prune back each branch of a Pee Gee hydrangea by one third. Just snip off the faded flowers. Add a slow release plant food such as Osmocote around the base of the plant after pruning. This will give you more branches but smaller blooms so less of a droop. Another reason for the droop could be heat. On hot days hydrangeas just look sad. Check how it looks during a cooler time to see if heat is the cause of the wilt. Keep the soil moist by using a mulch around the roots and I predict you will have a happy hydrangea next summer. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti