By Elfieweeks
Dorset,
United Kingdom 
ThreeYears ago my Husband purchased a lovely Hydrangea macrophylla Selina for me. It produced masses of lovely Flowers in the first Year. I did not prune it until early spring and in doing so cut most of the Buds off. That year we only had 3 flowers on the Plant. last autumn I pruned it all back to about 18" , but this Year we have a grand bush of about 4.5 feet of beautiful Leaves all round ,but onle 4 flowers. What can I do to get it back to the first years grand flowering? Please help.
15 Aug, 2010
This plant should not be pruned at any time other than in about April, sometimes earlier, as the new growth starts to appear, and the pruning is merely removing dead flowerheads, dead stems, and trimming back to where the new growth is. It's sometimes easier to do it a little bit later, as the growth really gets going, so you can really see where any dead bits are. Pruning it as you did last year in autumn meant you cut off anything that might have flowered this year.
Make sure you give it plenty of water if there's drought conditions too, and they shouldn't be planted within 3 feet of the base of a tree or other large shrub -dryness at the roots can inhibit flowering.
15 Aug, 2010