Where do you live and what kind of hydrangeas are they? Different types of hydrangeas will sustain different pruning practices, depending on how they bloom (old or new wood, occasionally both). In milder climates - like mine - buds on viable wood are already present but it may take longer for them to be very noticeable in colder areas. To be on the safe side so as not to entirely remove any flowering potential for this season, you can always wait a while before removing stems that no longer show any life to confirm they are in fact dead. We could be even more specific if we knew what type of hydrangeas you are referring to, though.

My condolences, Eve9955. Hydrangeas do the same thing here. Give thanks to the warm summer temperatures and winds. Place the shrub in a location where it gets sun until 11am and shade afterwards. Water about 1 gallon when the soil feels dry or almost dry. Most hydrangeas will droop and wilt a lot on their first two years but afterwards, they stop drooping by nightfall or next morning on their own. The key is adding water if the soil feels almost dry or dry. That prevents them from getting root rot. Root rot is generally caused by too much water or soil that does not drain well. Hint: make sure the pot has working drain holes and place it in a bigger container as soon as practical. Luis

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.

If it's going into an attached garage, just throw it out there. You'll find elaborate instructions for getting plants ready to change circumstances, but I've never had anything bothered by moving that isn't a ficus. Plants go in, out, into below freezing temperatures, into hot, dry houses - they don't care. Now the coldest my garage ever gets, is low 20's F. And that's with -20°F and serious wind chill. Below freezing is relatively normal, but it has a hard time getting much colder than that. The roses in the garage have started to leaf out. I need to start watching them, and get them outside fairly soon. My current problem is that there isn't anywhere to put them that isn't covered with snow and isn't in the direct path of cars. I have to at least find the back walk before they can come out. During the spring, they do a fair amount of moving in and out depending on the weather. Our current forecast is for above freezing temperature until Wednesday night, so they could definitely go out for a couple of days. If the forecast low is below around 28°F, or I have reason to believe it is going to get colder than that, they have to get moved back in for the night. If a cold spell comes, and they have to spend a couple of days inside, they just have to. The strange thing, at least IMHO, is that while they start growing so much earlier than the in the ground roses, they don't tend to start blooming that much earlier. Mutabilis has a very hard time beating R. hugonis, and it should be working with a several week head start. There is a definite learning curve with this.