Question
a nieghbour of mine has 2 hydrangeas 1of which is at least20 years old the other 15 years. for the last 5 years it has stopped flowering about the same time she got a new gardener. it is a south facing garden very well kept as far as i know its not bieng fed but it is bieng pruned by half its size. it has lots of big lucious leaves.we have had mostly mild winters here except this year a freak snow fall in feb.

Answer
Hi Kathy,
Thanx for your question.  Too much pruning will definitely result in no flowers.  Are you in Canada or U.K.?  The pruning is definitely the problem in my book.  If one is going to prune, it should be right after flowering and then, only to tidy up the shrub, unless one is trying to make the shrub into a shorter more compact shrub.  In that case, expect no flowering in the subsequent year.  After that however, the shrub should begin to bloom again.  I hope this helps.
Tom