There were a couple of warm spells in February and March this year, both followed by cold spells. If the Hydrangea buds for leaves and flowers were fooled into starting to open and then there were below freezing temperatures, the buds will not have survived. However, it has been cool here for the last several weeks, so it may just be a delay. You could scratch a branch to see if it is still green underneath the bark, or you could pick at a bud to see if it's brown all the way through or you could just wait and see. In ~3 weeks you should be sure either way and can prune off what hasn't sprouted. I usually wait a bit later since I'm farther north.

I would give it a bit more time. Here in Southern Maine we had virtually no snow for cover for our garden plants this past Winter. Waiting to see what if anything that has done. Did see some buds on my Blue LaceCaps yesterday. They seem to have made it through.

The two "old reliables" that were here when we bought the house have started to send out leaves near the base. But my favorite, H. 'Blue Donau', still looks tightly closed, and buds on it look shriveled. I'm along the CT coastline and hoping that they leaf out soon.

I have three hydrangeas and there's an enormous difference in their reaction to the nasty late winter/early spring rollercoaster.

H. serrata 'Blue Billow' has never had a problem with winter - it's hardy and reasonably sheltered. It's leafing out normally.

On the other hand, H. macrophylla 'Variegata' is always susceptible and I obsessively swaddled it over the winter with a cover and leaves and a frost blanket. Maybe I took the cover off too soon although I uncovered and re-covered it a few times depending on temperatures. In any case, it's coming out from the base with no sign of buds on the stems.

The climbing hydrangea is leafing out normally and even has some flower buds.

I agree with all the above who say to wait a bit.

Claire

Yeah, both ES and Twist and Shout are supposed to bloom on new wood, but in my experience, the blooms on new wood are pretty minimal, whereas it blooms prolifically on old wood. So I'm anticipating a low-bloom year.

I went out and snapped a few twigs today--they all look pretty dead. :-\

I was worried about my hydrangeas, which showed no sign of life until last week. Not sure what type they are (as they were here when we moved into this house), maybe macrophylla.

I heaped dead leaves over both but didn't do anything else to protect them over the winter. As I said, no real sign of life until last week, when I noticed new leaves poking out from the dead leaves still heaped on them. Yes, I left the ugly leaf-heaps until just a few days ago, which completely exasperated my husband, but now I'm glad I did..... The branches that stayed poked out of the leaf cover all winter don't look very lively at all, but when I raked the leaf-heaps apart I see robust leaves growing!

My limelight have had leaves for a couple of weeks. Now they are full leaves and lots of new growth branching off evident.

The ones on the right side were way smaller when we moved in, and now that we've cleared the blackberries away, I'm hoping they will rebound.

To contrast, this is what the hydrangea I have guessed to be endless summer looks like: (hint, it's that thing with long dead branches and two tiny spots of green at the ground level)

Both the climbing hydrangeas and the H. paniculatas like Limelight are hardier than the H. macrophylla, so I wouldn't expect any issues with winter hardiness except for the climbing ones in the northernmost parts of New England. I think for the H. macrophyllas to be sure of having the branches and buds overwinter, you need to insulate, but I can't be bothered. I plant ones that bloom on new growth.

I've pretty much given up on my macrophyllas this year. Every twig I've tested has been bone-dry dead. I won't prune for a few more weeks just in case there are some sections that survived down near the base. Luckily I do have two Annabelles and a Little Quickfire to tide me over until next year, and I'll hope for a bloom or two on new wood.

I could winter protect but they do fine 5 years out of 6, and between the prominent placement (right by front door, where I don't want to see a giant heap of dead leaves for half the year) and my busy life, I have decided to take my chances. So these are the years I have to take the consequences of that decision...

I'm chaulking everything up to the cold nights, but yes, our hydrangea areshowing little of no growth too.

As for my three ... meh!

My two are the same, and are some very old variety so I don't know what it is. But they are over 50 years old, and never die. Having said that, some years they sprout from previous year's stems and bloom pretty well. Other years they are killed back to the ground, but always regrow. This is one of the "dieback" years, and while they are sprouting nicely from the base, I know I will have only lush, green leaves but no blooms.

Our Hydrangea macrophylla are down to growth at the base as well. I've already cut back the dead branches. I'm pretty sure all of mine bloom on new wood, so I think I should be fine this year. We have 'Endless Summer', 'All Summer's Beauty' and 'Madame Emile Mouillere'. I should get bloom but not in abundance. We also have the paniculata variety 'Pink Diamond' and that has new growth on it.

I'm afraid mine have suffered the same fate as my roses. I just woke up to reality and cut many of my roses that were 4 1/2 feet to about three inches. So sad!