How can I help my poor climbing Hydrangea to recover?

[SweetBonanza]

Help - my poor struggling climbing hydrangea has been pruned!

I bought a house two years ago with a very overgrown neglected garden with a lot of mature shrubs in serious need of cutting back. In one very densely overgrown area, I discovered a climbing hydrangea that had been completely swamped and had grown scraggly and thin. I cut it back and it re-grew really well and flowered beautifully this year.

It's growing near a wall, so I've been patiently waiting for each stem to get long enough to tie it on to the wall to try and train it. Most of the stems were not quite long enough to reach the wall yet, but they were nearly there.

I've employed a gardener to help with the maintenance, and he's a bit over zealous with the pruning - yesterday he cut all of my hydrangea's long stems right back - so it's back to where it started from last year!

I know it will re-grow, but it was taking so long for it to get tall enough to reach the wall - and now I'm back to square one! Is there anything I can do to really boost its growth and try and bring it along?

Hydrangea like this is slow growing to start with but ramps away once it gets going. The only thing to do is keep your gardener away from it.

Got how annoying is that. He sounds like a pretty poor gardener if you don't mind me saying - I hope he was apologetic.

There isn't much you can do but wait really, and make sure it is getting enough water. Perhaps the cutting back will stimulate new growth?

It'll probably grow quite fast as it will have a good root system by now. Also it will probably be helped by the competition having been cut back too.

Argh, so frustrating. I just need to keep my fingers crossed and send it lots of good vibes to keep growing! I do give it some fertilizer in the growing season, so I'll start that in Spring and hope for the best.

My gardener is lovely, but doesnt quite understand what shrubs need pruning when. I'll have a word with him to make sure he's clear!

My gardener is lovely, but doesnt quite understand what shrubs need pruning when

He's not a gardener then. He's a bloke who just cuts things back to keep them neat and tidy.