Hydrangeas hit with hard freeze

15 years ago

Now what? I had some blooms still and of course leaves, they are all black and droopy now. Do I just need to cut it back or just leave it alone? It must have happened last year as well, because I only tried covering them a few times, when the first frosts hit, but I dont remember them looking so bad last year, and then I read that they dont really need to be protected (ie: covering with sheets/blankets/plastic etc). So I left them alone and they came back big and strong this year. I also did not prune them last year. So apparently they are growing on old wood?

I got these from a box store several years ago and they have been in the ground 2 years now.

Any thoughts? suggestions? I appreciate your input.

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Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
15 years ago
Are sure you mean a hard freeze? In gardening terms, a hard freeze is defined as period of cold that kills seasonal and deciduous vegetation (i.e. annuals), could damage new evergreen foliage, the ground freezes and heavy ice forms in any puddles or water collection recepticals.

I know you experienced a rather sharp temperature drop, however I'd guess it was only a hard frost, in which any remaining annuals and deciduous foliage was affected. It takes quite a bit more than that and for an extended period to damage hydrangeas in your climate. Just leave the plants alone. You can remove the blackened, frozen foliage if you wish or if the plants are very visible and deadhead any remaining flowerheads but it's not necessary. Don't cut back. In the spring when new growth is evident, you can remove any obviously dead wood but you don't want to do any heavy pruning, either now or then, otherwise you may remove very viable flowerbuds and reduce or eliminate flowering.

Winter protection of hydrangeas in zone 8 is pretty much unnecessary. The exception would be a late hard frost in spring after new growth has already begun.
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hayseedman
15 years ago
For you, it's not the cold that will get them. I've got some Hydrangeas sitting in my house right now that endured 17 degrees outside a couple of nights ago. They're fine.

It's next Spring when the buds break dormancy on some fine 60 degree Spring day only to be followed a week later with temperatures in the 20's. That's what gets you people in Georgia.

Dirr has made the point that you get more consistent flowering at cold Cape Cod than you do in Georgia. All because, at Cape Cod, the ocean doesn't allow for the extreme swings in temperature.

Hay
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Oh yikes, many people have bad experiences with landscape fabric. I tried using it many years ago - maybe they've improved the material - but it was awful, and this seems to be a common opinion. It isn't that easy to lay down, it bunches up, it gets punctured and weeds grow through anyway, AND last but not least, it doesn't break down for a long time. By that time, lots of roots have grown through and it ends up being difficult to remove. If you want to move your perennials around, then it's real fun dealing with that mess. It's better to use an organic mulch in the long run. Cardboard or newspaper along with mulch gives you pretty good weed control for about a year and you can smother sod or weeds or groundcovers underneath at the same time, all of which are quite the effort to weed or dig out. Breaks down eventually into a nice organic matter that enriches the soil. The worms actually love the paper. Not that I don't still dig garden beds, I just dug one last fall - wanted to plant it right away and I fuss and muss with placement so much. They say you can't be too thin or too rich, but I think you can't have too many flowers. :)
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You'll likely get alot more responses, faster if you include the actual photos in the post such as below. Its probably going to be a waiting game. The fronds that are brown are not going to come back, but it MAY send out new green fronds. I would leave it as is for now and see what happens. Are the newest fronds coming out of the top still firmly in place? If so that is a very good sign. General rule of thumb with P. Roebelenii is that if it is going below 32F for more than just a few hours, bring it in or protect it with heat. You definitely do not want the pot/ roots to freeze. Update us in March / April when its had a chance to warm up and try to recover. I have seen these recover from worse damage than this.
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Plastic bags alone aren't a good choice for covering plants for frost protection since it isn't a good insulator. Plastic greenhouses work because the plastic contains a large mass of air that is heated and then held in place by the plastic (and many have a double layer of plastic and the air trapped between the two layers is the actual insulator), but plastic bags over the small air mass around a plant will do virtually nothing as the heat contained in the small air mass is quickly lost. If you use clothes-pinned sheets with plastic over them, that may work better since the sheets will provide insulation and the plastic will block wind. However, in sunny conditions the air trapped by the plastic will heat up and damage the plants worse than the cold (voice of experience when a vent in a plastic high tunnel blew closed) so unless it is totally overcast, I would remove the plastic, and even if it is bright overcast I would check the temperature periodically since solar radiation does come through clouds. Like mnwsgal, I have left sheets covering plants for several days when I have had to leave for work before temperatures were above freezing. Spun bond row cover is made specifically for leaving over plants. Or with the clematis, just let them take their knocks. They will recover.
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tsmith2579
15 years ago
rjinga, don't cut them back. Unless we have a hard freeze, below 15*, you shouldn't worry about them. You may want to mulch the roots if you fear a hard freeze. All that has happened is the green leaves have been blackened. You will need this year's growth for next spring's blooms on most hydrangea varieties. Dead head the old blooms and when the leaves are crispy-dry, they will disintegrate. By spring you will have clean stems. Sometime in February you may want to give them a shot of liquid fertilizer with a high middle number, like a 10-20-10.
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Hydrangeas hit with hard freeze

Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

hayseedman

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