i bought and planted a hydrangea (macrophylla - endless summer) near the end of the the summer last year. it had no flower heads then (?too young). this year, i only see these little leaves budding up from the ground. i left the woody parts from last year. should i cut them back? they look and feel dead to me. is this what it is supposed to look like when it starts to grow each year??? i have tried looking online for help but am having trouble understanding whether to prune or not. i really hope it is not dead. how can i save it?
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I bought an endless summer hydrangea last summer from Holes.
No sign of growth until 2 weeks ago. i was thinking to exchange it but today, i saw there is a dozen of so green sprout from the ground. the trunk has nothing....my friend told me to wait a bit before digging it out and also before pruning the old trunk...
So, i am think to wait for a few more weeks to give it another chance. Last year, my hydrangea grows well but when it's about to flower, we get the really cold day and the whole plant just wen to sleep (soft, black and fell like it's dormant or dead).
I saw in the current issue of gardening life that a hydrangea is actually growing behind hostas....so i am thinking to move my hydrangea this year to where my hosta are (shady area)....near the corner of the lot by the fence. Right now, my hydrangea is near the sidewalk, facing west.
Anything that you think i should do, please let me know.
Melody
now i am really getting worried...i see no signs of growth from the old wood, just at the base and it seems to have stopped at the moment. i did move it into a sunnier location hoping that'd do the trick. i am beginning to think that this is all i will get. i'll have to check in on my mom's hydranges this week...she has a few and they do FABULOUSLY (they are already a few years old though)!!!
Mine looks just like yours! Do you see any growth from the old wood yet? Or did you cut it back. I haven't touched mine yet - not sure what to do!
My two blue hydrangeas that grew so well last summer aren't looking too good so far this spring :( When I uncovered them in April, they looked healthy and were already growing some leaf sprouts. One looks to be almost stunted, and the other has dinky leaves that don't look too promising.
On the other hand, my peegee hydrangea is growing like crazy -- tons of healthy green leaves already.
Could it be because of the wet & cold spring we've had so far?? I can't remember how long it took them to get to growing last year, but I'm pretty sure they were a lot farther ahead last year at this time.
I have three annabelle hydrangeas and I pruned them about two weeks ago, right down to the ground, on the advice of a friend. They are growing up beautfully now.
dawn, for that info. i actually snipped a bit of the branches to determine if they are dead. i cannot tell. they are pretty woodsy, but not brittle. i guess i'll just have to be patient and cross my fingers :)
I did some digging (pun intended!) for you and found a page that seems to indicate things are ok:
www.rosefloral.com/short/endless.htm
It says that it will grow from both the base and any branches that survived winter. You may have to wait for warmer spring weather for it to begin growing faster.
It really may be too early to KNOW if the bare branches survived winter, so personally I would not prune/cut back until lots of green growth has taken place. That way you know for sure! Often I've had hydrangeas that look really dead until they take on the growth spurt of spring. Besides, I have (just) learned that this variety grows on both old wood and new wood, so it's not like you would lose all flowers if you got just new growth this year-it will flower on that. This variety sounds like a favourite among many. There doesn't seem to be any drastic consequences by pruning late, so just wait.
I hope this helps.