Modern cultivars of Hydrangea were not easy to adapt to. I learned how to prune old fashioned cultivars during their winter dormancy. I knew to retain the terminal buds of their retained canes to bloom for their following season. Pruning canes of modern cultivars back shorter and depriving them of their terminal buds in order to promote shrubbier growth seemed to be more like pruning roses. I did not trust them to bloom without their terminal buds. Not only do they bloom, but they do so a bit more abundantly, and with sturdier floral trusses that last and retain their floral color somewhat longer than those of old fashioned cultivars. Old fashioned cultivars have bloomed so reliably for the past few years that I am not so hesitant about pruning them back. However, this year, they inexplicably did not bloom. I do not mean that they bloomed sparsely, or that a few of the total did not bloom. I mean that none of the modern hydrangeas bloomed at all. The only hydrangeas that bloomed within the landscapes at work this year are the few remaining old fashioned sorts. All of the hydrangeas are healthy with vibrantly green foliage. Neither disease nor insect pathogens have been problematic. I can not explain this odd lack of bloom. With such vigorous canes, pruning should be easy this winter. However, I am more likely to leave awkwardly long canes in order to retain their terminal buds. Even if they are not necessary, terminal buds might provide an earlier prebloom prior to the bloom of stems that grow from lateral buds. I can not help but wonder why, while modern cultivars did not bloom, old fashioned cultivars did. A colony of unpruned feral Hydrangea near the bank of Zayante Creek was unusually prolific in bloom.
Tony Tomeo 
It just makes these so-called modern rebloomers look terrible, doesn’t it–particularly when you have feral ones blooming!
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Well, the modern sorts are typically quite pretty, and because they are more compact, they are more practical for refined landscapes. If I pruned them like the old fashioned sort, they might bloom in two phases, with lateral shoots blooming after distal buds. I still prefer the old fashioned sorts though.
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I definitely prefer the colors on the old-fashioned sorts too. And obviously it’s not my soil–the color of my old fashioned one which lamentably only blooms sporadically, is so much richer than the new ones. But if it’s a question of flowers or no flowers, I will take flowers all day long.
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Actually, I prefer the old fashioned colors because they are softer pastel colors that are more appropriate to Hydrangea. To me, the rich blues and reds, and even purples seem to be unnatural for Hydrangea. If I want such color, I would grow other flowers that provide such color more naturally. The old fashioned sorts are more sensitive to pH, but that is expected of them. I suppose that I should be grateful for modern cultivars that can bloom blue more reliably, but I am not. It never bothered me when a blue hydrangea bloomed pink because I did not give it the blueing fertilizer.
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I know people did manipulate the colors of those old-fashioned hydrangeas but I wasn’t one of those–it was just too much work! I was out lecturing yesterday about the “lazy gardening “approach to preparing the garden for winter so that we can enjoy the best season we have. So I can’t imagine spending time trying to color change my shrubs! I know people do–but it’s not me.
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It seemed that blue hydrangeas were more desirable in the Santa Clara Valley when I was a kid, but because the soil is alkaline, their natural color was blue. (Although white hydrangeas were always white.) When I go to Washington, where old fashioned hydrangeas are naturally blue in the acidic soil, pink seems to be more desirable. Yes, it is too much work.
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Is it a paniculatum hydrangea. Here we are told to either reduce by half if tall shrub is required or down to the ground if lower growing is preferred. I didn’t prune mine last year but will do so in Spring. Here’s hoping all goes well.
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No, it is not a Hydrangea paniculata. It was pruned adequately, and perhaps more than adequately. In the past, I pruned it like old fashioned sorts, when entails leaving the terminal buds. I stopped doing that for the past few years and barely noticed the associated delay of bloom. (The lateral stems bloomed almost at the same time that the terminal buds should have bloomed.) I suspect that they are just too late this year. They would bloom with more time, but at this rate, summer will run out before that happens. I can not see how much running they will need this winter yet, but am inclined to leave terminal buds if possible.
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