Hi! I also bought one in Homebase - against my better judgement but had a voucher so needed to get my money's worth out of Nectar :-D Mine prefers shade and lots of watering (not a problem this year). I noticed that I have a lot of new growth/leaves/buds coming out of the stems lower down so cut off all the dead flowers and brown leaves down to a healthy budding point and hoping this was OK. Someone with some expertise might reply - I tend to prune instinctively rather than scientifically so just sharing my experience rather than giving you the benefit of any particular knowledge :-)

Hi, I agree with Julie, I have a few hydrangeas and I dead head them also and usually they are still flowering throughout Autumn.

I read many years ago that you should twist them off with your fingers, but to leave them there to protect budding points through winter and the old flowers can look rather nice in the winter covered in snow. I think it's whatever works for you:-)

I'd just like to say a big thank you for everyone's advice. I'm a little confused about dead heading but also reading to leave them on to protect new buds?! I'm probably going to dead head, as I don't like to see the dead blooms. I'm very new to gardening, so I guess it's all trial and error!!

Its a good idea to leave them on normally, but if the one you bought at Easter was in flower then it had probably been brought on to flower early and as you say the dead flowers wouldn't look nice through the summer. It is possible that your plant may throw up some new flowers later on and if it does you could leave those on. Also a better position would be one that got some shade for part of the day. Remember that they make big bushes eventually so watch out for when it needs a bigger pot.

Thanks for all the tips, hopefully I'll get it right!

I do prune off any early faded flowers to allow air and space for new blooms but leave the last flush on to protect against frost and as Ba says they look good when covered with snow. You will find that your plant flowers later next year now it is out in the garden.