HydrangeaI have noticed that some of the stems on one of my hydrangea are very floppy - or maybe some of the flower heads are too heavy

this may seem an odd question but could it be short of water-- hydrangeas are very thirsty, if not maybe the problem is at the roots, if they seem fine them maybe the stems are just too long and pruning will be needed in the spring-- you won't get any flowers-- but a good feed and mulch should make the following year a good one

Knowing where Scottish lives I doubt it is lack of water, too much but not a lack. Is it only now that the stems have gone floppy Scottish or were they like that all summer?

Just did a google search is your hydrangea Annabelle by any chance? Seems they are well known for being floppy...

Other than that I agree with Pamg prune in early spring.

If the Hydrangea is in a pot then it very well could be lack of water. My soil is fairly damp but my post are all very dry at the moment (wrong sort of rain!)

The ordinary varieties of mophead and lacecap hydrangea need to be pruned before the end of July otherwise you will lose next year's blooms. The paniculata varieties can be pruned in the spring as they flower on the new season's wood. Many gardeners buy hydrangeas that have been forced in a glasshouse to produce large flower heads. The problem is often that flowers are produced at the expense of the stem structure, hence they cannot support the blooms, and they will sag. Pruning next year should remedy this problem.

Water.....And get them out of full sun, Very thirsty plants.

guys thank you for all your comments -
Water is not the problem - they are generally very healthy apart from the few saggy stems which were not very apparent until I moved the few plants which were underneath.
I have updated the question with a couple of pics. These were taken about 1 month ago.
The plant in question is the one planted next to the Continus.
The plants were pruned quite drastically 2 years ago so i could move it to where it is now.
Sorry as I have new questions based on your comments folks:
a. Should I prune hard again? - as you will see it is not very tall - the fence is just over 6ft high.
b. What do I mulch with? - I have never bothered mulching a hydrangea before as they all come through winter just fine.
c. I have no id for this - do you think I would have a chance of id or are hydrangeas of this type too alike?
thanks guys x

I love the colour Scottish-- very envious!

now I just wondered if clearing the ground under you removed the support?--- Or is it growing away from the cotinus either for light or space and going a bit leggy?

My camera doesn't do the colour justice Pamg!

I think your comment re support may be right - although you can't see from the picture but the continus has little or no growth at the bottom and is not really competing with the Hydrangea.

I will give it a good mulch and see what happens next year. With the support from the other plants removed it may make the stems grow better. I will remove the few stems which are floppy once in can see in about it.

Obviously I don't want to lose the blue colouring - would you recommend mulching with ericeacous compost?

Thanks again x

others might know are leave/leafmould acid?---on my plant the flowers are pink with some veering to lilac-- and some a dirty lilac! although at the moment the flowers have gone over and are dark red --must be the soil-- and the funny weather!

Thanks Pam....hopefully someone else will answer me :)

Ericaceous compost wont help it is aluminium that causes the flowers to be blue...

Thank MG... I wasn't sure what it was that caused the flowers to be blue. I always thought that if the flowers were blue then the soil was more acidic hence I thought if I used ericaceous rather than normal compost it would stop them turning pink.

As your hydrangea is already blue it should remain so... Remember my father trying to get his pink one to turn blue - looked awful!