[samuria]

we have a hydrangea that was blue a couple of years ago. it now has lots of small white flowers, not the large ball type anymore? how can i prune it? as its rather large, and how? still looks nice but wifey would like to see it as before. your advise please folks......

[New shoot]

The blue colour is very dependent on the pH of the soil.  Acidic soil promotes blue, alkaline soil turns flowers pink or sometimes white.  You can buy feeds for hydrangeas to turn the colour back, but it is  essentially just ericaceous feed that you would give to acid loving plants.

You can really hack a hydrangea back, but that means no flowers at all the following year.  Alternatively, cut a few stems right out at the base and then repeat over the next couple of years, so you renew the whole shrub in time.  This is usually done over winter. 

I am not sure about the flowers being smaller, but that could be to do with the plant being hungry.  If you cut it back and thin it out, I would also give it a good mulch of either stable manure or soil improver 

[samuria]

thanks new shoot, should be getting some horse poo next week.
will keep some for the hydrangea