We bought a hydrangea tree but don't know what to do with it.?

Question

We just bought a hydrangea tree and planted it a week ago. It has about 8 blooms on it and is about 5 feet tall. The blooms are so heavy though that they have started resting on the ground. It said that the tree would get about 12 feet tall. Are the blooms supposed to fall to the ground? Do we need to prune the tree? (Although that kind of defeats the purpose of having this beautiful tree.) It also seems to require ALOT of water. How do care for this thing?

Answer 1

When first planting a tree, you need to water it frequently as the roots have not spread far beyond the potting mix it was in.  You should water frequently the first two years to ensure survival.

The flowers can get rather heavy and cause sinking.  The best way to correct this is to prune the branches back after bloom.  You can cut a limb back half way, rather that taking it all the way to the trunk.  Just find a place where it branches out and cut the limb at the nook.  If you do this immediately after bloom, you should still get blooms next year.