Hydrangea paniculata 'Hercules'

• ‘Hercules’ prefers compost-enriched soil that stays moist. It can be planted in sun or light shade.
• Shrub roots generally tend to spread out rather than down, so dig a planting hole 3 x wider than the roots of the shrub you're planting and mix some well-rotted compost or manure with the soil from the hole and use this to re-fill one the shrub is in place.
• Before planting soak container-grown shrubs thoroughly and allow to drain.
• Remove the plant from its pot and tease out a few of the roots.
• Add Mycorrhizal fungi to the roots when planting to help plants establish quicker.
• Place your shrub in the hole at the same level at the pot.
• Refill the hole with the earth removed (backfilling) and firm in the soil with your heel, avoiding the root ball, then water well.
• Mulch around the base of the plant with a collar, compost, gravel, bark etc.
• If you're planting into pots, place some old rocks, stones or gravel in the bottom of the pot for drainage and ballast.
• Use the best compost you can buy and some sand or grit for drainage.
• Because the flowers are white, they are unaffected by soil type.
• Feed in spring to encourage flowering, our Hydrangea feed is ideal.
• Keep well-watered through the year.

Pruning

• As this hydrangea flowers on new wood, you can leave the faded hydrangea flower heads in place until the new buds begin to swell in spring – this also protects the new growth from frost damage.
• Just cut back the stems to a strong pair of buds. Remove any branches that are damaged or dead as well as any that are misplaced.
• After pruning hydrangeas, apply a mulch of well-rotted manure or compost around the base of the plant.
• Once established, you can remove up to a third of the shoots to the base of the plant to encourage new stems.