hydrangeas dried out with pictures

[avidgardener]

I noticed this year my hydrangas have new growth at the bottom but the rest of the branches seem dried out should I prune them down to new growth or leave them?
I am located in the Northeast New York area we had a harsh winter.

[ElizabethB]

Avidgardener - welcome to the forum.

It does not look good. First determine if the stems are dead. Use your thumbnail and scratch through the bark. If the underlying stem is green - it is alive. Check several places on each stem. Sometimes the upper portion is dead but there is still life lower on the stem. Remove any dead stems to the base of the plant. If some are still alive prune to just above but not into a leaf node. In your last picture it looks as if the plant had been pruned. Many of the cuts were made too far from the node. Most woody plants do best when pruned just above a leaf node. (except azaleas - they don't care)

Even if all of the stems are dead you still have lots of nice, new growth from the base.

Except in a situation like this hydrangeas rarely need pruning unless you are trying to manage the size. If you do prune during the growing season do so as soon as the blooms fade. Cut just above a node. Hydrangeas set next year's buds shortly after the current year's booms. If you wait too long after the blooms have faded you will cut off next year's blooms.

Good luck

[rainbowgardener]

You now have two posts about these same hydrangeas. It would have been better just to put your pictures in the thread you already had.

In the previous thread, I asked you where you are located. You still haven't said. It makes a big difference. Many parts of the US went through an exceptionally severe winter and a lot of hydrangeas were damaged by it. I don't know if you are even in the US, so I don't know if any of this applies to you.

But this thread: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... =3&t=58263 has a picture of someone else's winter damaged hydrangea, looking just like yours, with some responses about what to do about it.

[avidgardener]

I am in the US thank you for your replies , I did not know how to attach images to previous thread..

[rainbowgardener]

sigh. .... so were you in some part of the US where you had a really hard winter?

You would have attached your pictures to your old thread the same way you did in this thread, just using the reply button to start a new post and then the Upload Photos tool.

Did you look at the other thread I linked to? That person's hydrangea looked exactly like yours.

[avidgardener]

I scratched the sticks alas they are not green but brown when I break off a piece they are white inside should I cut them down to the ground now so the new growth at the bottom will take over?

[luis_pr]

Go for it. If they were going to leaf out, the stems would be green inside. "Late" stems will leaf out as late as sometime in May; end of May if you are in the northern states. This year, I had some stems that leafed out and others that did not but right after the end of May, the pruners called me and the rest is history. )

Even when they leaf out, you may consider pruning them (enjoy the blooms for a few weeks and then cut) so you do not end with a plant where a few looong stems are sticking out with leaves and the rest of the stems are smaller. It will look strange. The best time to prune hydrangeas that bloom from old wood is the end of June (you probably can extend that into July if you are up north but be wary).

[avidgardener]

Thank you!