What to do in the garden in March: Prune Hydrangeas

Hydrangea paniculata

published 17 March 2012

Hydrangeas are one of the glories of late summer, and H. paniculata is deservedly fashionable in its many lovely forms. It will excel itself if it's pruned hard this month. Having left the papery flowers of last year in position for a bit of winter protection, you should now remove them and reach down into the structure to cut each healthy shoot down to the lowest pair of green buds. This apparently tough regime will lead to renewed vigour and a bumper crop of big flowers in due course.

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by His Majesty The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.