I think I am going to have another year with no hydrangea blossoms, sigh! One year they were so beautiful. I have about 8 big plants of big sticks, with growth at the bottom. They are all so unsightly! I wonder if I can cut them down to the new growth without affecting the blossoms for next year.
Hydrangeas
You can always cut off dead stems - no reason to keep that around during the growing season, and that will have no effect on the new growth this year.
Otherwise, I don't have much advice other than to maybe transition from the plants that disappoint you to another group with more reliability for summer flowers in NJ.
It is the third Lousy Hydrangea year in a row here in NJ.
I decided to dig up the old hydrangea and move it. It was too big for the area anyway. And I bought a new hydrangea with buds already on it. It's an Endless Summer variety, so I think I can prune that one without fear of losing next years blossoms. I THINK! I'll have to investigate that in more detail later.
That looks so perfect. I did buy a couple of the new hydrangeas and so far, they have done terrible - not endless summer though. My SIL has a lot of ES in Central Jersey and they do great. I have to dig up and see their roots. They were probably root bound when I got them.