young hydrangeas

I have a question for all you hydrangea pros out there in regards to some young hydrangeas I have.

I planted numerous hydrangeas last spring (spring 2005). All have come back this year with very nice leaves and even a few blooms on some, however all of them (7 in total) have several limbs still with no foilage. The new leaves are growing all around these dead looking sticks......I am assuming these are dead limbs that I should probably discard? Each plant has at least 4 to 6 of these? I am in Georgia, so I was thinking that if they were viable limbs they would have produced something by now? I have been afraid to cut them down for fear of cutting off something I shouldn't.

Dawn

You can always prune off a few inches at a time until you reach some green or get to the bottom of the stem. But at this time of the year, the chances of hitting some green growth have definitely gone below 50%. Back in June, I checked mine (Zone 7b/8a) in the manner that I suggested.... and ended pruning them all. Luis