Cutting hydrangea back hard

[sarahh96]

I've got an unruly overgrown hydrangea and my fingers are itching to cut it back hard.
Is it too late now? (Uk).
I've done it with others before but that was early summer.
They do grow back really well but am I likely to kill it off completely if I go out there and do it now?
It's in a large pot, if that makes a difference.

Picture for ref, although it does look a lot more bedraggled now

Just googled this from Gardeners World magazine …

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/how-to-prune-a-hydrangea-in-spring/#

@UncleHerbie oh thank you, that's a definite no then.

Well, my DH once ran over our hydrangea with the lawnmower (I know, how?!).

Despite being reduced to ground level it recovered really well and is now absolutely massive. I think they're quite hardy really.

Hydrangeas flower next year on this years new growth so if you cut it drastically now it won’t flower next year (but you’ll get a fabulous display the following year!)

I’ve got a huge hydrangea that took up too much space and the weight of it caused all the branches to bow down leaving an empty centre if that makes sense. I cut it right back at this time of year 2 summers ago. No flowers last summer but huge, beautifully shaped and glorious flowers again this year.

I’ve only pruned it that, once/ generally I leave it, leave the (finished, brown) flowers on over winter as they protect the new growth and next years flowers. I cut the old flowers off in about May.

I love hydrangeas!

We have three (one lacecap)and prune them hard late Feb/early March. We've been doing this for 20 years and always have lovely flowers in the summer.

@ShinyBandana that's exactly what mine is doing, it's held up by string at the mo. My worry is that over winter the branches will snap anyway if I leave it.
I think I'm going to do it. I'd have to cut hard back next spring anyway and, at leat now it might have time to form new shoots.
Hate to go against Monty Don etc but I'm itching to get at it 😂

If you manage to kill a hydrangea, please let me know, I've been trying to get rid of a couple for years. Including digging out the stump. They just come back.

@Daftasabroom 😂😂😂

We had a stunning one, not sure what the hell DH did but he decimated it and it's never anywhere near recovered.

They're impossible to kill. One was mowed over every time the grass was cut, always sprouted again. Another I was told 'don't cut the dead flowers off till after the frost or it will die' perfect, I thought, and hacked it to pieces.

It looked quite nice the next year, loads of leaves and no awful flowers. Unfortunately it must have enjoyed being hacked back to the ground as ithe year after that it was 3 times the size and had many more flowers than previously.

So my advice is try to kill it. It'll love it.