What kind of hydrangeas?? That makes a huge difference :-)) But in general, for those species of hydrangeas that appreciate pruning, it's pretty early still. Even in my very mild climate, I'd wait until late March or so to prune paniculatas or arborescens.

If you are in the middle of a warm spell, pruning can trigger growth so do it before the plants leaf out. If you are winter protecting any hydrangeas, you may want to check now to see if you need to add more leaves to protect stems that may now lack enough leaves to protect them.

Down here though, I am starting to see some hydrangea kiddos that are set on leafing out. For the next few days at least, temps will be warm so I will probably try to cover those guys with hay again and maybe sing some songs to make them fall asleep again. I just hope the neighbors do not see me and call a psychiatric hospital! LOL! Hee hee hee!!!

When do you normally see signs of leaf out? Or when do you normally prune? Based on your zone, are in the coast of Long Island?

Not counting this current winter, the previous ones for me have been rather mild. It was driving me nuts because some hydrangeas kept their leaves "on" thru winter. I am also used to seeing them leaf out in March in the last few decades but in the last few mild years, they leaf out in late Jan or February.

I don't know what type Hydrangea it is; this is a picture of it on the left. It is only 2 years old so my pruning resume is scant. I didn't cover it with leaves this year; I don't know why I didn't but I didn't. I just was outside and noticed buds on the unpruned stalks = a good sign? I'm thinking that I should wait until spring and just remove any dead portions.

my guess would be a paniculata..no need to winter protect..that space seems to small for it..I wouldn't prune it..I would move it when the soil is warm rather than constantly cutting it back..

I'm not sure that guessing or assumptions are valid WRT the OP's question :-)) Unless one knows for sure what sort (species) of hydrangea they are working with, the suggestions for the timing of any pruning are meaningless. Bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla) really should NOT be pruned except for removing deadwood in spring after the leaf buds have established and unfurled lest one remove any latent flower buds.

Regardless of type, now is not an ideal time to prune anyway........much of winter is still ahead of us and colder temperatures could reappear at any time. If the OP cannot confirm what sort of hydrangea is being grown (or provide more detailed images that would confirm species), then it would be better to wait until spring and the new foliage has emerged and make some recommendations at that time.

But I do agree that if one is pruning that shrub back to keep size in check, then it would make far more sense to relocate to an area where it has sufficient space to grow unpruned.

Wow, you guys have great eyes. I could not tell what it was. Maybe I should stop wearing my glasses upside down. Ha! Ha! Ha! ;o)

Thank you all; It is obvious that I am a novice at gardening. I thought that I had to prune to have a healthier plant. I'm fine with it growing larger, for now anyway. I will wait for spring and remove dead leaves. BTW we have a LOT more winter here in NYC. I will repost in the spring with a better picture to figure out what type of Hydrangea it is. Thanks to all again.

LOL Luis. I think Nichols must have predicative vision.

I presume your Hydra is now dormant. OP, if it was me, at the time of pruning either find a different spot of maybe just widen the planting spot by your fence another 2 feet and move it at least another 18 inches. And or more.. if you don't want to revisit it if your space allows.

Every one seems to be recommending that I move the plant. What is the down side of leaving the plant where it is?

NHB could not have summed it up more eloquently

I live in the Bronx, if I had to move the plant 2 feet I would lose 25% of my yard LOL = very small yard. It did bloom last year with purple flowers. I will leave it alone and provide more pictures later on. Thank you all. As a novice gardener I really appreciate the advise garnered here.

Purple flowers would indicate it is a macrophylla. And that means you should avoid any pruning to control size :-) Macs bloom on the previous season's growth so pretty much any pruning other than to remove deadwood results in the elimination of potential flowers. Some macs do have a "repeat" bloom feature or rather an ability to produce flowers on current season's growth as well, however those tend to be quite late compared to the prior year's flower buds so I simply do not recommend pruning macs to size at all. Unless you are prepared to forgo the flowers.....which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the shrub for me :-))

I guessed paniculata because the leaves didn't seem big enough..I change my guess to macrophylla since the flowers are purple..good news is that macrophyllas are smaller than paniculatas..

"good news is that macrophyllas are smaller than paniculatas.."

Some are.....others maybe not........... :-)) Especially in a zone 7b garden.

a general observation from pics on GW..the paniculatas and arborescens seemed bigger than the macs..

OT, but for the discussion of transplanting, would you say everytime you transplant it, does it set it back for that year. For sure the OP needs to give it some growing/ breathing room now. What if OP just moved it 18 inches this year, and then when the OP sees the potential as it grows, OP some how finds a new home for it...

And or just move it once, and let it be in it's proper spot.

And or rip/replace/donate and head straight to a compact macro.