Hope for Hydrangeas

​If your hydrangeas are looking a hot mess this year you are not alone. Our last two snow storms in April really did a number on hydrangeas. The good news is your hydrangeas do not need to be replaced. Trim out the dead wood & your hydrangea will be fine. The bad news, many hydrangeas will not bloom this year. 

I know, I'm sad too. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers. Years ago I bought every hydrangea I could find at an end of the year clearance sale. Each one a different variety although some were missing tags. All in 3 gallon pots, scraggly, ugly, half-dead but for $5 each I was willing to take a chance. They were originally $45! Turns out, they were a great buy. They all recovered beautifully. I look forward to their blooms and Jason's beautiful bouquets each year.

The large leaf varieties seem to have taken the hardest hit. Of the hydrangea shown below, we trimmed all of the dead wood out of the top two but they are not likely to bloom. The bottom two are planted behind our house in sheltered beds. Both had live and dead wood. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will blossom!

Here's what they look like in bloom. Sigh...

Not all of our hydrangeas suffered. We have a spreading variety that is doing exceptionally well. It is covered in buds and honey bees! ​Our limelight hydrangea is also doing well and starting to bloom. Limelights are known to be extremely cold hardy. The jury is still out if our 3 hydrangea trees will bloom.

Luckily, Mother Nature has a way of making up for garden disappointments. It may not be a stellar year for hydrangea but our spring tulips and peony were absolutely spectacular. Check out our tulip blog posts on May 19th and May 21st then click through the slideshow below to see how our garden is doing today.
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P.S. While I was blogging Jason made a beautiful bouquet of peony.