A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Shrubs and Trees frozen hydrangeas

My beautiful hydrangea budded in November during an unseasonable warm spell and then froze and destroyed the new growth. It recovered nicely and was well on it's way to flowering when the temp dropped into the 20's and froze all the new growth. It looks like mush. What can I do to get flowers on it this year or should I just cut it way back and hope for the best next year? I've never had it bud and freeze twice in 5 months before.

BEV! long time no see!! we still haven't made that trip, but i haven't forgotten.

for your hydrangea, i'd just ignore it. don't cut it back for a couple of weeks, that will maximize your best chance of getting blooms.

i hate that you had the weather you've had, i've been reading and it's been awful!

I think the cold got my Hydrangea's too(??) I planted 2 new bushes last spring. They looked good all the rest of the year---but now they are just brown & sitting there---and then also we had 3-4 days of freezing weather last week, which did not help I am sure----how long before I admit defeat & pull them up?

Hello JunieGirl. In Illinois, I would recommend the end of May or mid-June. If you winter protected them, they should be ok and, at worst, the branches may be dead/dried but the plant will return from the ground. Keep watering as needed and perhaps remove a little mulch near the base so you can tell when new leaves are forming there.

If you are curious as to whether the branches are dried out, you can cut the top 1/4" or 1/2" of one branch and see if it looks dead or not. If dead, prune further down and check again. Continue until you cut it all down or until you find it is still alive.

Luis

greetings Luis;
Thanks so much for you advice. The branches are dried out---but I can be patient & see what their condition is in June---and I will be sure to water them as needed--and I just removed the mulch yesterday when I was raking the rest of the yard after my husband cut the grass--so all is good. I will let you know how thingse turned out.
thanks
Carol

Hellow Fellow Georgian!
I think that Easter cold snap has really hurt most of the hydrangeas. I live a little south of Atlanta and mine were nipped, too. I'd wait to see if the damaged limbs begin to put out any new growth before you cut it back. Some of mine were hurt on the front of the plant, but already have flower buds on the back part of the plants.
Walter Reed (GPB gardening show) has some pictures of hydrangeas damaged by the cold. His advice is to wait a while before pruning. You probably won't have many blooms this year. Sorry!

well I said I would let you know what happened---it seems 1 plant survived & one is dead---so I will take esp. good care of the one--and plant a new one (perhpas the oak leaf variety in the fall?) to replace the dead one---

carol. plant it now, so it has time to establish its roots.

Weird weather around the country! We had a mellow winter, as NY winters go, and my hydrangea is full of buds for the first time ever! Yippy!

Jiffy, as soon as I am up to the trip, I will get a replacement--

thanks for the tip.