Young Redbud Tree and Colorless Hydrangeas

We have Donna in Massillon. ‘I have a redbud tree. It’s only the second year for it. And it had so many leaves on it that all the limbs are just way fallen over. And it’s beautiful, but it looks like a bush instead of a tree. And I also have a hydrangea tree. It’s the vanilla strawberry. Three fourths of the hydrangeas are still white.’

You do want to trim that back a little bit because on a young redbud, a lot of times we fertilize it, we want it to grow fast and then it does and the limbs get almost too long to support their own weight. You can trim those back this time of year. You’re not going to hurt that plant. In the early spring, right when it’s done blooming, if you want to tighten it up some more, meaning more pruning on it, that would work then also.

What you don’t want to do is leave those limbs really long through the winter, because you can get ice and snow build up on them and then they’ll break off. Definitely go ahead and give it a light pruning. However, when you do that, make sure you water and water deeply. Remember a tree’s root system is significantly deeper than annuals and perennials. So you want to give it a really good drink of water when you do that pruning.

With the hydrangea, everything’s a little late this year. I’ve got one at my house called love a lot pink and it is still white as well. Normally by now, it has started to develop the pink around the base. It’s just taking a little longer for that to happen. Also, the ground is extremely dry, so that can slow things down as well. We had a much cooler June than we had the year before. You should see that color develop in the next week or two here by giving that a good, solid drink of water. You’ll help that color develop as well.