Hi, I'm in your zone.....magnificum gets cut all the way back soon after blooming and grows back without missing a step.No rebloom. Usually sanguinium and macrorrizum don't need a haircut. However in this heat-without-rain they are yellowing. I have two "fields' of them as groundcovers so I either have to turn my head away as I walk by or get the guys who mow the lawn to run over them with the mower. Or maybe use the weedwacker....which means re-stringing it, killing my shoulder and putting on ear and eye protection. I think mowing sounds easiest. They do not normally rebloom. I may have Max Frei; I know I have some oxy.......somethings with a woman's name (Mrs. something something)....A.T Johnson...... Max got 3 feet tall and was amputated at the ankles.Don't remember if he reblooms Mrs.A.T.J....just got propped up until she too started to yellow this week, then got cut back. The fact is there are not a lot of geraniums, except Rozanne and Samobar, that are rebloomers in our climate. Rozanne just looks like you know what by August if you don't trim it back. Samobar, watch out for self seedlings. They are often not true to parent, have minimal leaf markings, and muddy flowers. Otherwise, a good seedling offspring can look great. More than you asked for. Generally, YES you can cut them back and they'll grow back. I'd suggest if it it is really hot/dry to water them so they'll grow back lush.

You can bring them in when it starts to get cold or dark. Most plants do not use the temperature as an indicator for life cycles, going dormant - emerging from dormancy but use the length of daylight. So, when the days get shorter and shorter and darker - bring them in. I don't worry about how wet they are when I bring them in - after all, in Seattle it might be very wet when they come in - lol. Some I will put under lights and on heat mat and those never go completely dormant and I don't see a difference in how they do in the spring compared to those that went completely dormant. The old leaves fall off when the new ones emerge. In our mild climate (PNW 8b) I push a lot of cuttings into established pots of other plants and leave them in for a year or so and they also do just fine. Over the year I may start 20 - 30 or more plants and since I give them away and don't sell them, I am pretty casual about the process. My biggest problem is keeping the labels with the plants. If that happens I have to wait until the first bloom before I have a clue what the actual name of the plant might be but I never get complaints. lol

Her hee hee! I go to some nearby gardens (to get my mom to exercise) and they have these huge Oakleaf Alice hydrangeas. I finally saw the bark change there in winter. Like you said, huge leaves too but my oakleafs hide the bark with leaves in selected (most) years. The smallest always looses the leaves but I always fail to look at its bark because it is near some Crape Myrtles that also do that bark change and I always fixate on them and forget to look at Ruby Slippers due to taller evergreens that block the hydrangea a little. PeeWee also stays fully dressed in winter but others in the back may let me see the bark change one of these years. I think I saw some of their bark this year because its leaves dried out on top but the bottom ones stayed green a tad longer. Made me panic thinking it was a watering issue during winter but the soil felt moist. Gardengal48, please elaborate on the designs that you mentioned!

OOPS!! Linnea, I feel for your frustration. My husband has cognitive issues and fortunately never was interested in gardening. As others have said, they will come back but most likely will not bloom next year. Many years ago in my old garden in CA, my husband asked if he could help. I was planting about 150 daffodil bulbs and dug wide holes to plant them in large groups. I gave him a bucket of bulbs. He stood about 10 feet back from the holes and tossed the bulbs, one at a time, into the holes. I thanked him for all the help and then spent the next 30 minutes righting each bulb and spreading them out evenly at the bottom of the prepared hole. Covered them and tried to keep calm! Of course all summer and after he explained to visitors that he had planted the display of daffs and was very proud of his accomplishment. It is funny now, but not at the time. Some events just need a historical view to be appreciated.