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barbieberry

Little Lime and Limelight Hydrangea help?

gardenbug
9 years ago

I have one of each. They grow beautifully with lots of blooms and I just love them. My dilemna: We had a heavy rainfall mid summer and they both collapsed under all their heavy blooms. They haven't completely stood straight up since. I read somewhere that they wouldn't collapse. Not true.

I would like to know if I can cut them back a bit now, so they'll look neater in the garden instead of many of the branches laying flat on the lawn. If I do cut them back will I get blooms next year? Anyone else ever have this problem? Please help? I'm in Zone 8b, BC - Thanks everyone. Oh yes, Little Lime is 3 years old now. Limelight was planted just this past spring.

Comments (4)

  • luis_pr
    9 years ago

    You are fine. No chance of having bloomage problems for next year, cadence. Their blooms develop on new wood so that means the 2015 blooms develop in the Spring of 2015.

    It would be best to prune in winter when the plant has gone dormant as opposed to say in the middle of the summer with 100-degreeF 37-degreeC temperatures. But, sometimes these accidents happen suddenly and you have to play the hand that you were dealt regardless of the current weather conditions. Hopefully, temps have gone down for you.

    Enjoy those two shrubs. They are good choices. My LL still has green blooms.

    Once your shrubs get older and the stems get stronger, you should not see "too much" of this problem. Say 5 years or so? By the way, if you ever see heavy blooms and the threat of coming heavy winds, feel free to be proactive and cut selected blooms to prevent this problem again. Or add a wind break of some type.

    Luis

  • ked1985
    9 years ago

    My LL gets floppy when it rains too (it's still a new plant). I shake the rain off immediately after and they eventually pop back up. I will occasionally use some supports if the blooms are huge and I know they will need some vertical assistance. I wouldn't prune too hard before it's dormant, but I have cut a bloom or two over the season to keep a neat appearance.

  • gardenbug
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you Luis and ayimera. Luis, I feel so much better now, knowing I won't lose blooms next spring. I'll wait until they go dormant before I cut them back. I use to have the same problem with my blue mopheads so I dug those out (they were pretty old anyway) and replaced them with Limelight just this past spring.
    My Little Lime (3 years old) grew to about 5' tall and then came the heavy rain.

    Ayimera, I did the same thing. Shook the water off them the best I could and some of them did lift a bit. So that is a good idea. Thanks.

    Thank you for helping me with this.

  • luis_pr
    9 years ago

    You can try that in winter too (shake the snow off the dried out blooms). And the suggestion also applies to Annabelle & any others that produce large blooms.

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