What is your opinion on moving one of my climbing hydrangeas?

11 years ago

About 9 years ago I planted a pair of climbing hydrangeas on either side of a small arbor. At the time, the Norway Spruces were less than 5' tall and I thought I left plenty of space for them to grow (although then I did not know what kind of conifer they were).

Now that the spruce have gotten HUGE, the arbor and the hydrangea's are really getting overrun and I was considering if I could take out the spruce to the left of the arbor and move the arbor into the space vacated by the spruce. This would require moving one of the hydrangeas to its new location too.

How do-able is this idea? I have not had a lot of blooms - I think because of the amount of shade, so this would also be an opportunity give them more sun as well as amend the soil a bit. I know there will be a TON of spruce roots in the area, so I have no idea if I will even be able to get any kind of root ball up with the hydrangea or not. Obviously, I could purchase a replacement, but it took SO LONG for them to get where they are now - I hate to start over with a 2' tall plant!

Your thoughts?

BettyLu

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Comments (3)

lsimms
11 years ago
I bot a few climbing hydrangeas, maybe, 15 years ago to climb around a 6 foot fence. They were always in the shade and grew so slowly I gave them up for a fancy.

I lost a tree and all of a sudden these things came to life because they got sun. Very pretty...and explosive growth.

Climbing hydrangeas grow to 30 feet in length. Even if they had been in the right conditions, they would overcome your structure.

That arbor is such a nice architectural element surrounded by so much color, it's a striking piece. I'd leave it alone.

The climbing hydrangea would never replace the beauty of your spruces. They bloom late spring and afterward are rather unremarkable. And the blooms are rather unremarkable, as well.

I think you can move them, but they aren't worth a spruce.
bettylu_zone6a
Original Author
11 years ago
Gee, I hadn't really thought about whether or not the arbor would support more vigorous growth. I am probably lucky they didn't get more sun!

Your point is valid, I believe I have to agree.

If I decide to move the arbor forward, I will have to cut back the hydrangea to disengage it from the trellis. I am hoping that it will survive the pruning, but if it doesn't, I now realize that a different type of climber shoul be substituted.

Thanks!
Bettylu
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bettylu_zone6a
Original Author
11 years ago
Gee, I hadn't really thought about whether or not the arbor would support more vigorous growth. I am probably lucky they didn't get more sun!

Your point is valid, I believe I have to agree.

If I decide to move the arbor forward, I will have to cut back the hydrangea to disengage it from the trellis. I am hoping that it will survive the pruning, but if it doesn't, I now realize that a different type of climber shoul be substituted.

Thanks!
Bettylu