"Brent Harsh" wrote in message
.com...
Jo wrote:
Mine just started to bloom two days ago.

I had cut mine down as well.

Interesting - I did not cut the big blue hydrangeas down at all last
year, and mine are very much over for the season now. They started in
early June along with the gardenias. I had a full crop (4 or 5 bushes
at least 25 years old in front of my house). I fertilized with the
x-tone (holly-, tree-, plant-?? don't recall) recommended for acid
loving plants in the fall and put a couple buckets of mir-acid on them
in the spring.

I was thinking of pruning them back as soon as all the blooms are gone
(any day now) because they do bloom on old-wood and I'd like to get a
good "first-year" growth going before fall/winter sets in. They are
getting pretty ragged and lanky since I didn't trim them at all last
year. Does anyone think that sounds right?

snip

I'd try cutting only part of the stuff you'd like to cut back, then see how
it does. You can always trim more, but you can't un-trim.
Murri