Hydrangea vanilla fraise

Planted small 3ft one last year, only had 5 flowering heads. Should these be deadheaded before starts growing again? Don't know if I should leave it alone, read somewhere not to prune until 2-3 yrs???

 

I’m just about to plant one of these. Am I right in thinking that I should use ericaceous compost? The label suggests John innis 3. I was under the impression that they preferred ericaceous.?

 

Jools, no to ericaceous compost. Only lacecaps and mop heads with blue flowers need ericaceous soil.

Do you intend to plant it in a container? If so, John innes 3 plus a handful of dried manure/chicken pellets, some grit and fish blood and bone will serve it well. A mulch too. You will need a large container to grow it satisfactorily but........

This is a paniculata variety....I know it says so on the label.....and has a lot of vigour in it. Far better in the ground. Here my P. Limelight ( basically very similar) is pruned in early spring to 30 to 50 cm from the base and it grows to 150 cm plus ...flowering now It produces a big root system that is both thirsty and hungry......for decent size flowers your hydrangea needs plenty of water on a regular basis

These paniculata hydrangeas are magnificent shrubs....they have the potential to form small tree size!.....and a good, fertile spot in the garden will reward you well!

These are unlike other hydrangeas that are often seen in containers. There are better plants for containers

 

Hi @Verdun Thanks so much for your very informative reply.
For the short term it is going in a pot (large one) as I’m yet to re-structure the one border. It will be in the ground hopefully next year.

 

Excellent jools