I have a couple of hydrangeas, glowing embers, nikko blue. Blooms grow low down on the bush, They have lush growth every fall.
If I understand correctly, they bloom on old wood? Well, by next spring the thing will be woody sticks, with green insides, but it doesn't sprout leaves up past 6 inches or so. Then there is new growth from the ground also. Well I end up cutting back the stalking stuff, even tho there is green insides.
So any hints, on what I am doing wrong? Do I need to give that stalky stuff even more time than I am giving it? DOn't ask me when I cut it back, but it seems like the end of May, schools out. There is at least heavy new growth & leaves forming 18" up.
Thanks,
Abigail
Hydrangeas in Spring
I don't think you're doing anything wrong--it's your climate that's to blame. Old-wood blooming hydrangeas can be unreliable in zone 5 unless you take steps to protect them over the winter (the buds tend to get frozen during the winter so you end up either with no blooms or just a few). If the stalks aren't putting out new leaves and you've already got lots of new growth from the bottom, that probably means that the stalks got damaged a bit by cold over the winter so they wouldn't bloom for you anyway and you might as well prune them off. Probably the reason why you're seeing some blooms near the bottom of the bush is that those branches are more protected from the cold, either because they get covered in snow or because they're sheltered a bit by the rest of the bush, that's why you see blooms there but not higher up.
If you want them to do better for you, you should wrap them in burlap or something to protect them from the cold (check some of the other threads on this forum--I remember people in colder zones having a number of ideas of how you could protect hydrangeas over the winter). Or if you want more reliable blooming without the extra effort, you should try one of the reblooming types like 'Endless Summer' or one of the other hydrangea species like H. paniculata or H. arborescens, both of these are hardier than H. macrophylla and bloom on new wood.
Thank you.... I have just wanted to hear it from the "horse's mouth" so to speak. There is so much info floating around & it didn't seem to address this specific set of circumstances. It was the green wood on the old stalks that was throwing me. I do have another hydrangea aborescens & It is fine as you say. I will go look for the other threads. Thanks again for your time.
Abigail