How to Cut Back Limelight Hydrangea Trees

Limelight hydrangeas are a variety of flowering shrub that produce large, cone-shaped, light-green blossoms in the mid-spring and summer months. It is one of the few hydrangea varieties that may be trained into a small tree form by removing all but one central stem. The limelight hydrangea tree should be cut back annually to encourage additional branches -- and thus more blooms -- at the top. Cut back your limelight hydrangea either in the mid- to late fall or in the early spring.

Hand pruners
Tape measure

Instructions

- 1
  Kneel down at the base of the limelight hydrangea tree and locate any small sprouts or twigs emanating from the trunk. Cut off all sprouts using hand pruners, cutting as close to the trunk as possible without damaging it. Any remaining sprouts encourage the tree to revert to shrub form.
- 2
  Look at the top portion of the limelight hydrangea tree and measure the length of the tallest stems from the point they emerge from the trunk to their blooming ends. Divide this measurement in half to determine how far to cut back the stems.
- 3
  Trace the distance determined in Step 2 up one of the stems from the bloom end, then cut the stem off at that point using hand pruners. Make the cut at the intersection with a leaf, called a node, to disguise it.
- 4
  Repeat the process to cut each of the remaining stems back by half, making sure to always cut at a leaf node.
- 5
  Gather up the cut hydrangea stems and compost them or throw them away.

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