• Hydrangea trees can provide late-season blossoms.Hydrangea Blossom image by MIchelle Chrin from Fotolia.com
  
  As summer blooms begin to die, a tree-shaped hydrangea can enliven a yard with long-lasting flowers that fade gradually into a fall color spectrum. Some garden designers and landscapers label this old-fashioned treat as tired; thus, directions for turning this charming shrub into a tree are more diffident than they may have been in the past. With garden common sense, however, it is possible to bring this handsome transformation of a blooming tree into your yard.
  
  

Choosing the Right Hydrangea

• Hydrangeas come in large-leaf, smooth-leaf, climbing and several other varieties, all of which ornament gardens in different ways. The paniculated hydrangea, with its arching branches and cone-shaped flower clusters, responds well to being pruned into tree form. In addition, its blooming cycle fits into late-summer flowering and bloom retention.
  
  

Scheduling Effective Pruning

• Paniculated hydrangea flowers bloom on new growth. That means that even if branches die off during the winter, new branches form in the spring that carry the flower buds. Pruning to shape your hydrangea can be done at any time, but the most effective pruning for a tree shape is done in late winter or early spring, with minor follow-up shaping as the season progresses.
  
  

Pruning and Supporting

• Creating a tree from a shrub can take several years. Once your shrub is established, select several (three to five) strong branches close to the center of the shrub to form the trunk of your tree. Cut other branches back to the ground, and keep them cut back throughout spring and summer. Such seemingly severe treatment directs growth strength into the central cluster of branches, leaves and flowers. You may wish to support the central branches until they are strong enough to stand alone. Cuff them, as you would a sapling trunk, or use several tall stakes and ties as temporary support.
  
  

Wait, Watch, and Prune

• Pictures of full-grown hydrangea trees show versions with single trunks and multiple trunks. Watch as your pruned shrub develops and decide which look you prefer. Tree lovers might argue for the single-trunk look, but others love the increased bloom abundance and broader shape created by retaining several main stems. Here, the supposed boredom of landscapers can be an asset: you can tailor the shape of your tree to your space. Pruning to a single trunk is likely to increase overall height; pruning to several trunks increases the plant's breadth. It will take several years to achieve the shape you want.