I have been receiving the newsletter for years, this is my first time writing. I have two hydrangea trees that are about 5 \u00bd feet tall and 7 feet, that were planted about four years ago. They are in bloom and the blossoms captured the rain enough to bend the branches. On the smaller of the trees a branch was too stressed and now has peeled open. I can look into a 5 inch “wound” that looks a bit like an open taco. The weight was obviously too much. The branch that is broken comes right to the main trunk. There are two other larger, less overloaded branches. My question: how and when do I prune this “open wound”? Should I cut down the other two branches as well? The tree will be very lopsided if I do not also address the healthy branches. Should I “knuckle” all of the branches and make it look like only a tree trunk exists with the hopes of development on new branches next year? Should I do it now, wait until October? Are there other things I am not considering?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t