Hydrangeas: Does anyone know if this is normal?, 0 by kevanrijn

kevanrijn wrote:
Happy May Day everyone! Last fall we moved from Lakewood, Washington (where my hydrangeas didn't require any winter protection) back to West Virginia. I have 5 hydrangea macrophylla (Leuchtfeuer, Brestenberg, Nikko Blue, All Summer Beauty and Endless Summer) and figured if I wanted to see any blooms this year on any but the Endless Summer and All Summer Beauty, I'd better give them winter protection. I put chicken wire cages around them and filled the cages with leaves, completely covering them.

I resisted the urge to uncover them during the warm spell we had in March and my patience was rewarded when we had that unseasonable cold spell in April. Finally yesterday (after checking the 15 day AccuWeather forecast and seeing no more cold weather (our last frost date is May 18th) I began releasing them from their chicken wire cages and uncovering them from under the leaves.

Here is what Leuchtfeuer looks like. The others look much the same. Some bright green leaves toward the outside...and that funky, almost white, very tender growth on the inside. Is this normal? Or did I cover them wrong? Will the funky new growth harden and the stems turn brown and the leaves green? I do hope my inexperience with hydrangeas didn't hurt them!

Kim