Hydrangeas will be 'stronger and healthier' in autumn if a 10-second task is done now

Hydrangeas flowers are starting to fade now that summer is coming to an end, but gardeners need to be doing a simple task to help the plant prepare for autumn. The hydrangea flower cycle usually starts to stop in late August, which means they will now be showing signs of stress and be less colourful than they were just a few weeks ago.

However, the gardening experts at Mill Creek Gardens have shared how it is very easy to keep hydrangeas strong as you just need to take a few seconds to deadhead them. They said: "When you deadhead hydrangeas, you aren't harming the plants at all. Removing the spent blooms triggers flowering shrubs to stop producing seeds and instead put their energy toward root and foliage development. This makes plants stronger and healthier, so by deadheading, you'll be doing your hydrangeas a favour."

Why deadhead hydrangeas in late August?

Deadheading is the simple gardening practice of removing any dying petals on a flower so it can direct its energy into helping improve and grow other parts of the plant.

This can help any remaining flowers on a hydrangea stay healthy so they continue to look good, and you might even get a few more late-season blooms.

However, the main reason to remove faded flowers now is to encourage hydrangeas to pour more energy into growing bigger leaves and deeper roots.

This helps hydrangeas store more energy to get ready for freezing temperatures, and a well-prepared plant is more likely to produce bigger blooms next year.

Soggy old flowers also trap a lot of moisture which can encourage mould and other fungal diseases, so taking a few seconds to deadhead now makes it less likely hydrangeas become infected in autumn.

How to deadhead hydrangeas

It is incredibly easy to deadhead, and will only take you a few seconds or at most a few minutes. Simply look for any spent flowers that look brown or wilted on the plant and follow the stem to the first set of leaves.

Use a pair of clean sears to cut the stem just above the healthy leaves. Make sure you are only cutting into the green soft stem and not the thicker woodier parts of the plant.

At this time of year it also helps to have a cloth soaked in alcohol to clean the shear blades. Fungal disease and mould are very common in late summer, and cleaning the sears helps to stop any infection from spreading.

Simply check your hydrangea plant once a week to see if it needs deadheading, and the plant will be stronger and much better prepared as we head into autumn in September.