I am up in southern Canada just an hour north of Toronto Ontario Last year I put broken bushel baskets, which I had around over the plants and had them stuffed with leaves Not all my hydrangeas but on some. I am new to growing these beauties that it is to cold where I am But fortunately we get a lot of snow and that I believe this protects them some. The plants though that I did not cover, other than with some leaves thrown over them bloomed earlier than the plants I had protected. This year I have only thrown leaves over the entire beds. Just let them fall and then watered in a bit so they do not blow around Pinkie winkie and limelight that where not covered really bloomed so nice and early and still have bloom on them now but of course it is fall colored now I am in Florida for almost six months and will not be home to uncover them That I believe makes a difference as well So will see what happens this year They sure are gorgeous plants and look good from spring til late fall

Looks good but I would amend the soil a little; the leaves on the picture look like they have iron chlorosis. You could try some greensand, garden sulphur, aluminum sulfate, liquid acidifier compounds, etc. I would also add some mulch. I share your last comment.. it is sooooo hard trying to decide when to remove the winter protection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I try to wait 2 weeks after my avge date of last frost but Mother Nature works off a different calendar...

If moving it doesn't help and you want to keep that particular peony, you could also try plant stakes to hold up individual flowers, though you might need a lot of them! The Peony ring should work though you may need to hoop it up a bit higher to help prevent some flopping. There are also these half-ring kinds of supports that are available to give you a bit more flexibility than the single ring. If you are not as intent on keeping that particular pony then I would recommend an Itoh Peony. It's a bit costly, but it doesn't have big flopping problems (though they can droop a bit sideways making the shrub get wider than it would be otherwise.)

luis, we have snow! Sometimes very little (an 'open winter' we call it. It's hell on plants) or up to two feel accumulation. Then the rabbits either tunnel beneath and eat the bark and low branches or just munch the branches.from ground level. My point being plantskydd and rabbit scram, which are both very effective only work when the shrub is exposed not covered by snow .OTOH It may be worth a treatment in mid november to cover the first few months of winter. Dogs not in our future. Useless in snow, anyway. This year has been a boom year for rabbits. I think there was time for 4 litters. There are still baby rabbits eating the clover. It's going to be a tough winter. TJ, thanks for specifics. I was thinking a smaller guage fencing, but the plastic would be much easier to handle.