Oh my goodness! Those are big and beautiful! I agree that it looks like frost damage. I'm northwest of Chicago and spent the last weeks of April covering mine at night. Normally, I don't uncover them until late April, but with the warm temperatures so early in March, I had to uncover them due to abundant growth. Fingers crossed the cold didn't zap too many flower buds and you get to have that beautiful pink palette.

I agree, manur83. It is a nice shade of pink, isn't it?

It truly is! I moved mine from my old home 2yrs ago and are still smallish in size. Can't wait to have them bigger:-)

Luis and Manur, thank you for your comments. I just love those pink hydrangea - they truly are a show stopper and last year, our first year with this garden, I gave so many bouquets away and never even made a visible dent in the volume.

I think you are onto something with the frost. We are south of the line you drew across the state (just southwest of Grand Rapids), however, we did have a morning of 29 degree weather. Then just a few days later, we had two days that were almost 90 degrees. I stopped at a garden center today and talked to a guy about it. He agrees the frost probably got to at least the one bush, and the warm weather after that didn't help. Since I am almost positive these flowers have not been fertilized in a number of years I bought some Holly Tone and applied it at the drip line; a little late, I know. It won't fix the frost damage, but I hope it'll do its thing and make for more robust hydrangeas.

The garden center guy helped me with a plan for fertilizing, dead heading, covering when frost is anticipated and pruning so hopefully next year will be better. I had no idea I would need to protect the leaves from frost. I guess I thought they are hardy enough to withstand it. Live and learn!

Thanks again!

Bluebell66, I love holly tone. My mother in-law covers her big shrubs with old bed sheets and it must do the trick because her garden is amazing. If your hydrangeas are already in the bigger side whe frost in spring occurs, you could try that. The good news is, hydrangeas grow fast and the damage will not take away from that. They may have fewer blooms and a few ugly leaves, but they should be just fine. Also, since you are in MI, you can find good compost and add that if you don't want to mess with fertilizers. I like to switch it up from year to year.

I will have to remember the bed sheet trick. We also have some tarps that would work, too. I'm glad to hear the damage won't take away from the performance. Compost is a good idea, too. I am re-working some other areas and plan to get a load of compost, so i'll put some at the base of the hydrangea, too. Thanks!