What did I do to my hydrangeas??

9 years ago

Bought the house in March of last year (2013) and it had a huge beautiful hydrangea-- or perhaps 2 right next to each other-- next to the house. The blooms were blue and purple and fairly large and round. I did noice that there were a whole lot of dead branches inside and so once the blooms were dying, I went out and pruned it.

I am a newbie and am sure I did something very wrong bc now every single branch appears to be dead. There are tons of green leaves at the base still so it's obviously not completely dead. But what happened? I removed all the dead branches-- which were like half the shrub it seemed-- and also trimmed most of the other ones down some, bc it was really just a huge shrub overall, and the previous owners didn't do a lick of gardening so I figured it was time. I made sure I left little buds on the healthy ones though and it looked great when I was done, not that that means anything obviously bc it's very sad-looking now.

Could it be a fluke bc of how horribly cold this past winter was? Or did I do something really horrible to it? And finally, is there anything I can do now? Those dry sticks everywhere are killing me.

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Comments (10)

nnmjdklil
Original Author
9 years ago
sad. so sad.
hc mcdole
9 years ago
Winter had some severe cold days this winter so most of what is happening around the country to hydrangeas is winter kill. You did nothing wrong...
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You can bring them in when it starts to get cold or dark. Most plants do not use the temperature as an indicator for life cycles, going dormant - emerging from dormancy but use the length of daylight. So, when the days get shorter and shorter and darker - bring them in. I don't worry about how wet they are when I bring them in - after all, in Seattle it might be very wet when they come in - lol. Some I will put under lights and on heat mat and those never go completely dormant and I don't see a difference in how they do in the spring compared to those that went completely dormant. The old leaves fall off when the new ones emerge. In our mild climate (PNW 8b) I push a lot of cuttings into established pots of other plants and leave them in for a year or so and they also do just fine. Over the year I may start 20 - 30 or more plants and since I give them away and don't sell them, I am pretty casual about the process. My biggest problem is keeping the labels with the plants. If that happens I have to wait until the first bloom before I have a clue what the actual name of the plant might be but I never get complaints. lol
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Hello, Just to let you know, I am in zone 7 as you are and I took cuttings from a number of mophead type hydrangeas in approximately early April ( I was moving from a house and took some cuttings to the new house..). These rooted in just a few weeks and have been planted in a flower bed since about mid May. They are now about 1 1/2 feet tall and branched (I did pinch the central leaves two weeks ago to encourage branching). There is no doubt that they will be big enough to bloom next year. I suspect if I had gotten the cuttings sooner, they might have even bloomed this year. Not sure of the variety--they just came with the house. You can't go wrong--I would just keep them in pots until early fall when it cools down a bit, but put them out in your bed in time for them to grow and establish roots this year. They will bloom for you next year, I'm pretty certain. Cheers!
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Rb, you don't tell us because you don't want us to know or because you don't know? Just kidding (gggg). Re: dieback. It's my understanding that PG trained as a standard and left to its own for years (typical example would be old PGs growing at cemetaries) could become very unkemp looking by the reason I call 'visual dieback'. I have an unsubstantiated theory about this and would be glad to have everybody's opinion about it. As branches become thicker and thicker bark on them become thicker as well, leaf buds can't penetrate it and new growth occures only at the tips of the old long branches. Some adventurous buds that still will be able to grow thru the old bark spend most of their energy to do so and are not productive. Since new growth is not produced anymore neither from the base of the tree nor from the most of the lenghts of the old branches you'll see new growth and flowers only on outside part of the plant. That is creating how I call it a 'visual dieback' effect. In a PGs trained as a trees this effect could ruin the whole appearance while in a shrub form it doesn't play such role. Hope you remember this pictures I posted here a few times Obviously nobody pruned this, planted in 1978, shrub for at least last 20 years. I got a chance to see it very close. Upon close inspection the main trunk become a 6 or 7 trunks growing together sometimes splitting, but sometimes growing one into each other. Nevertheless, of all 15-16' width of it, only outer 4 to 5' has viable buds in a spring, but that is enough to cover all ugly insides and create the most stately and gorgeous PG I ever saw.
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nnmjdklil
Original Author
9 years ago
Oh Well that's good to know at least. Thank you for responding hm! Any advice now, or do I just let it take it's course? I'd love to chop down those horrible sticks. If it's okay.
morz8 - Washington Coast
9 years ago
It's OK.

I can't see any growth buds on last years stems anywhere in your photos - you can remove anything that doesn't show signs of leafing out.
October_Gardens
9 years ago
Polar Vortex got your plants this past winter. Many people got lows far below zero who never did before. I have 50+ H. macrophyllas and all old branches were killed to within 1-3" of the ground. (The lowest low was -18 with a wind chill of -40.) At this point I know all my old branches are dead, so now I've been slowly making my way around the beds cutting them off at the base.

Pruning is fine, and recommended to a size of 2-3' before winter hits. But you might also want to round up a few trash cans or bags full of leaves and dump 2' of leaves on the plants to act as mulch you fear subsequent winters will be as bad. Even the slightest bit of extra mulch can preserve buds at the base, and of course the roots themselves. You'd want to remove the leaves in mid-April but might want to keep old blankets handy to use for a night or two, if any frost or freeze warnings are issued - so new growth isn't freeze damaged.
hokierustywilliamsbu
9 years ago
Winter kill-join the club this year. They will be back!!
nini804
9 years ago
Damn polar vortex!! Mine, here in NC, look better than the OP's, but I do have some of those dreadful sticks. It seems, though, that leaves are SLOWLY "climbing" out of the sides of the sticks...I can't decide to cut them or wait. Last year at this time, all 7 of mine were full, lush, green and covered in buds/beginning to bloom. There are some preemie-looking buds,,,but nothing like previous years. :( Waaah!
shadeyplace
9 years ago
I have had to cut all of mine back almost to the ground..except for the lacecaps. I am assuming no blooms this summer or very few!
I have dienanthe which is a relative but not the same!
DDhydrangea
9 years ago
Fall is here, and there are rumors of more polar vortex nonsense. I really missed my endless summer show this year, just tragic. They bloomed a little on new wood but nothing like the first show in May.

How can I protect them this winter? So I can enjoy beautiful blooms in May 2015.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
9 years ago
DD, check out the link I posted in the "cutting back hydrangeas?" thread. Or you can search online.

We used to have a member that posted a great thread years ago on overwintering macs that I dug up. Wish he was still around

Here is a link that might be useful: hayseedman's overwintering thread

What did I do to my hydrangeas??

Comments (10)

nnmjdklil
Original Author

hc mcdole

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morz8 - Washington Coast

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What did I do to my hydrangeas??

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nnmjdklilOriginal Author

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