Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no! You know how it is around here! It can be sunny and warm one minute, then next week it could be freezing and snowing again! LOL!!!

I know it's very tempting, but I would just wait until at least a month from now.... even then, it's not guaranteed not to turn cold again! :-)

The average date of last frost for Cincinnatti is May 12, if that will give you an idea. Columbus is May 23; Dayton is May 19; Akron is May 29; Athens is June 8.

Hi hydrangeasnohio - Happy almost Spring to you & everyone ... it'll be 8 more weeks where I am ... Mom's Day is our rule of thumb here! I woke up with 8" of snow this AM ... & we barely melted the last inch of our accumulated snow since end of Oct! 4 more inches & we'll break Iowa's 1885 record snowfall of 72"!

Ostritch - I still remember when you had to run to pick up bedsheets for quick cover-ups, one Spring ... & I ran like a beheaded chicken pulling covers back up, because of defying Ma Nature's rule!!!

Wow, Luis just off your finger tips huh?!!!

Hi luis, you just reminded me - last year, we had frost AFTER Memorial Day!!! Everyone was fooled! Usually, the rule of thumb was that after Memorial Day, everything would be fine, but I guess it was not.... sigh!

Ditas!!! How are ya? I am shocked to hear that you had 8 inches of snow this morning! How rude!!! Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, about 3 years ago, we had about 110" of snow in Cleveland... that was a snowy winter, BUT we still did not break our record that year!!! LOL!

Hello, ostrich and ditas. Hydrangeasohio, you need to pay attention to that average date of last frost and wait at least two weeks. My avge date is March 15-18 but look what happened last night (March 20th) over here:

No! I am leaving mine on for like another month! This weekend is supposed to get down to 20 degrees one night! Patience, I know I feel the itch too lol! I uncovered my roses, but something told me not to uncover the hydrangea's. I did recover the bases of the roses with more mulch though, and have covers ready if needed.

luis, are you serious? You got snow in Texas in the middle of March!? That is something!!!

Hey, hydrangeasohio, if you really want to do something now, I guess you can prune the paniculatas now! LOL! Or, you can come and help me rake the lawn - all the heavy snowfall this year meant that there's a ton of snow mold on the grass! Yikes! it took me a long time to rake out that dreadful stuff from the front yard.... and I still have the back yard to do!!! Sigh...

Kentstar, now you are scaring me! I have not heard about the very low temperature this weekend in NE Ohio... maybe I am warmer as I am by the lake?

Didn't mean to scare ya lol. Just Friday night so far is slated to be in the upper 20's. I'm about an hour south of Cleveland.

Ostrich I have already cut down my paniculatas and my butterfly bushes. Along with raked all my snow mold out. I just can't stand the look of the burlap in the spring. It does not bother me in fall or winter. There are so many good choices now with Hydrangeas I do not know why I mess around with these anymore. I think I am going to find some big pots and dolly them into the basement or garage for winter instead. Do you think a detached garage would be enough winter protection for them? My house is cut into a hillside and has a walkout basement. So it is just as easy to put them there. My Reblooming hydrangeas have growth all over them that I do not protect for winter. Looking at them made me anxious! I will wait till April 15th and see what the 10 day forecast is before I uncover them. Thanks for all the comments!

hydrangeasohio, I just cannot believe what a diligent gardener you are, having done all of that stuff already!!!!!!! WOW!

Now, if you want, you can come over and do all of that for my yard! LOL!

I don't think that potted hydrangeas will ever look as good as the ones in the ground. While it's true that there are now many new varieties, they are not all tried and true yet. Just remind me what you have - are they Nikko Blue?

Hey, it's not really spring here yet.... LOL

Ostrich I have a Light O Day, Lady In Red, 3 Kaleidoscope, Goliath from Pettiti's, and my first Hydrangea am unkown Lacecap with red edged leaves. No Nikko's, but my Mother and Grandfather have one.

I have had great luck so far with my Endless Summers and Forever & Ever rebloomers. Last Years winter was pretty bad and they had a great season of blooms. They died to the ground but bloomed on new wood as promised. This year looks like they all made it through winter with no protection with very limited die back.

I was also thinking of replacing them with maybe some other hydrangeas like Smooth, Paniculatas, & Oakleafs.
Ostrich do you think a detached garage would be good enough? I am thinkin not.

I have still have alot of leaves to clean out of the beds yet. Ostrich do you have any Hydrangeas that you have to winter protect?

Hydrangeasohio, does your detached garage go below freezing during winter? If the pots will not freeze inside, it should be OK. However, I just don't think that you will be happy with the end results if the hydrangeas stay in the pots for a number of years. They really are much happier in the ground.

For this same reason, I gave up some of my hydrangeas and gave them to friends, simply because I didn't have the ground space and they were not happy in the pots over the years. They included some Kaleidoscope (oops, I can't even remember the name now!! Ouch...), Forever and Ever, Claudie etc. All I have left in the ground now are my Endless Summer, Annabelle, and a number of paniculatas! I love my Annabelle and the P's because they are so carefree and hardy. OK, they don't have the colors of the macrophylla's but then my philosophy of gardening is, if you need too much babying, you don't belong to my yard! LOL!

So, to answer your question, I do NOT winter protect my hydrangeas....just too lazy to do so..... LOL

Yea thinking about it now I had some paint I left in there one year that froze. So I imagine the garage is a bad idea. I think I am going to change my gardening philosophy to yours. Again I just can't stand the look of the burlap in the spring. Just looks so tacky. I think I would rather give them away than keep this up every year.

I couldn't help myself..LOL... I took 5 of 7 coverings off and they look pretty good. Also dug up one of them and potted it. I think I am going to pot another 3 and only cover 3 a year for now on. If frost comes I will just run around with sheets. The 10 day shows no signs of anything below 40 degrees. So I will cross my fingers and hope for the best!!!

I was thinking about doing it also! I think I'll uncover this week and keep a reserve of the leaves and pine needles just in case. Or maybe I'll just mound at the base, because it IS a forever and ever series one.

Ken I have 5 Blue Heavens and is maybe my favorite. They have bloomed great on new wood for me! I have had really good luck with all the hydrangeas F&E series. Only one that has gave me a little bit of problems is my Double Pink. Although I got it at the end of summer 2008 for $2 at Lowes on the discount rack. It looked very sad but I think I have nursed it back to health. You have to try the Together F&E! The blooms on it are unreal!! Very compact and will fit anywhere in your gardens. Maturity size is only 2' by 2'.

I just saw that one yesterday on hydrangeashydrangeas.com and I fell in love with it! Wish I had room lol! I bought so much last year that I'm out of room for any more plants lol! Bummer...

There is always room for one more...lol

I just went and bought a half wine barrel this morning for a climbing mini rose that is coming in a couple weeks. Looks kind of rickety and rusty but I thought "what the heck, it's rustic looking lol"! It was the last one at my local nursery and the lady said they will not be getting anymore of those (I guess she couldn't sell them). I got it at $30 which is probably not bad for the price.
Plus I have yet to plant my Pretty Jessica rose and two Sleeping Beauty miniflora's coming in May from Heirloom.
I think I have enough for this year! lol
I fell in love with Blue Hydrangea's when I went on a trip to NJ last summer, and they were blooming all over the place! Not pink, but a gorgeous blue! I said, I have to have one, and picked it up at Lowes in NJ, drove it all the way back to Ohio, and planted after a few days in the shade. A long distance impulse buy! lolol