Hello, teresa. It sounds like you have a hydrangea macrophylla that blooms on old wood. The leaves in the cages are a form of winter protection for these hydrangeas and it should be discontinued once danger of frost has passed. Your local nursery can advice when the average is for your location (and when to put them back in fall). Because Mother Nature is in charge of the weather department, I suggest that you add two more weeks to the average. If at any time it looks as if you will be continuing to have an even longer winter, feel free to postpone removing the leaves once again. If the plants have been placed in a location that supports their size at maturity, there should be no need to prune. When pruning is needed, it should be done after blooming but before the end of July. Flower buds for next spring will begin to be developed sometime in August/September. Keep the soil moist and the plant mulched with 3-4" of acidic mulch up to the drip line. Fertilize once in June with manure or cottonseed meal. Use lighter fertilizers (like liquid seaweed, coffee grounds, liquid fish, etc) during the growing season as desired but stop at the end of July so the plant goes dormant on time for the start of winter. If your soil is not acidic (a soil test can tell you; a nearby local nursery can also help; a soil test kit from Lowe's/HD/etc can approximate) then you will need to ammend the soil once a year or so to prevent iron chlorosis. This condition shows up on the leaves when the soil is alkaline. You combat this by adding soil sulphur, aluminum sulfate or by adding liquids containing iron chelated products. When the plant gets iron chlorosis, the leaves turn yellowish, except for the leaf veins. The veins stay a deep dark green color. If you have trouble watering, use the manual method for a couple of weeks.... insert a finger to a depth of 4" and water only when it feels almost dry or dry. Note the date on a calendar. When the calendar notes indicate some kind of watering pattern is developing (you are watering every 3/4/5 days) then set the sprinkler to water on that frequency. Repeat this if the temperatures fluctuate 10-15 degrees in either direction and stay there. During winter, water only if it is dry and the ground has not frozen (once every two weeks is probably ok). To prevent fungal infections in the leaves, water the soil and not the leaves. The best time to water is early in the morning. Pick up plant debris under the shrubs and check the mulch once a year. Do not plant other shrubs close to the hydrangeas such that air flow between the plants decreases (this could make either plant get fungal infections). Hope this helps you, Luis

Don't trim it at all. Mine look the same as yours due to the bad winter here in NE Ohio. I'm taking a wait and see approach and plants are running 2-3 weeks behind here. These beauties usually rebound, but my first poor experience with my Nikko Blue was overtrimming (ie. long stems) for a friend's wedding and then having to wait 2 years for it to bloom again. Be patient, I'm betting it may be 2 years due to this winter. The most I've ever trimmed mine since is removing the dead mops in the spring (perhaps 4", just a bit above the bud). Hydrangeas love to be fed acid-loving fertilizer and tons of water. To go blue, I give my Nikkos lots of cold leftover coffee and grounds. Take a look at these articles: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/hydrangea-pruning-hard-frost-72951.html http://homeguides.sfgate.com/prune-hydrangeas-dead-wood-stems-46868.html http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/hydrangea_would_not_bloom.html

Well, I did not mean to imply there is not much else to do. Indeed pray for a normal winter (!!!). But as stated, others in colder zones than mine have to take some additional measures. As a matter of fact, some people in your zone and colder ones take additional preparations. Once the plants go dormant in the fall, some people place a cardboard on top of the hydrangea stems and press downwards until the cardboard in somewhat level with the ground. As ong as you press down gently, this does not do harm to the stems, which recover very quickly when you remove all the stuff in spring. To hold the cardboard in place, people add the weight of some rocks. Then they top it off with dried leaves. At least one foot of dried leaves from their garden (and/or their neighbors). Others add some chicken wire around the plant. Six inches to a foot past the drip line. Then they fill it in with a lot of leaves. No stems beding with this technique. But the idea is, again, to protect the stems holding the flower buds from the worst of winter temperatures and winds with the leaves. Your plants seem to be holding up well without these additional measures and that is good. But mother nature can sometimes surprise and catch us off guard. The result could be no blooms. That happened to me last winter. In Texas, we are not supposed to have to take additional measures. But this last winter, the temperatures were warm until we had a nasty cold spell and the temps stayed low for a little while. This killed all but a handfull of blooms. Now I am not saying go ahead and do all that. Just keep your eyes open when forecasts of the next winter temps & precipitation come and see if you think your plants may require some help this winter. Otherwise, stay the course. Hydrangeas that bloom on old wood are the ones which require a lot of care during winter. Those which bloom on new wood are not affected much and can receive less winter care... within reason. Have a good winter season and an even better 2008 hydrangea season, emmgus. Luis

Where are you located generally, or do you know your soil pH? Some types vary the color with pH while others tend to be less pH sensitive. My guess would be something like Endless Summer because it is so common.