AHS February 2022 Zoom Meeting
Monday, February 28, 2022 7:00 PM EST (USA and Canada)
A lifelong gardener, Mal has been collecting, propagating, and growing hydrangeas for more than 40 years. An engineer by education and profession, he is strongly committed to the continuing development of the genus – always searching for new and better plants, evaluating their landscape performance, and finding superior ways to produce and grow them.
His Hydrangea Farm Nursery on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts was a well-known specialty nursery featuring one of the largest hydrangea collections in the Northeast. In 2014, he relocated to Cape Cod, where he continues his passion with the evolution of a significant signature garden. Mal frequently shares his many hydrangea learnings with garden clubs, horticultural associations, and plant societies – in the USA and other hydrangea-centric locations world-wide.
He is currently the Curator of Hydrangeas at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich, MA and totally involved with the continuing expansion of the Garden’s significant collections, including the North American Hydrangea Test Garden and The Cape Cod Hydrangea Society’s Display Garden.
His presentation will be "Hydrangea Success - Special Pruning Strategies"
"Culturally, of the several important issues for the home gardener to understand and practice, pruning is quite possibly the most critical and the least well understood. It also remains the most frequently questioned topic in my many lectures on hydrangeas. We’ve shared the details of ‘Pruning Best Practices’ for many years, always trying to include the new understandings we continue to learn over time. Several years ago we began to trial mid-summer ‘Pinch Pruning’ on Hydrangea macrophyllas to improve plant form and bloom count by cutting back new stem growth and removing spent blossoms. It is a successful practice, but definitely not universal. Specific cultivars, particularly those with remontant characteristics, have been the best respondents. More recently, we have conducted similar trials with H. paniculatas and arborescens – specifically focusing on improving plant form. Results have been encouraging but this is a ‘new’ approach and deserves further evaluation."
Mal’s lecture will be a virtual presentation featuring detailed graphics relevant to all topics. A lecture handout will be made available for the American Hydrangea Society membership.
In order to attend the February Zoom meeting, you will need to pre-register. Once you have pre-registered, you will receive an e-mail confirmation of your registration with the Zoom meeting number and password. During the meeting, those attending will be muted and not seen, however, you will be able to type in your questions in the chat room.