Oakleafs were also untouched

Only hydrangea showing signs of life at this point is Leuchtfeuer, budding all along the canes & pushing new growth in full leaf from beneath the soil. This in just the last few days as the soil is warming. Hopefully, the dormant flower buds formed last year are still viable - can't distinguish leaf from flower buds on the old canes as yet.

Endless Summer, Penny Mac, Mini Penny, Sandy Summer & Midnight Salsa still appear lifeless. But where deer nibbled a bit, see live cane, so maybe they'll pull through. Gardenias & Sky Pencil holly freeze-burned & browned out, but their stems still alive.

Tough Winter, not so much for the low temps but the extended cold without milder patches of relief. Just have to wait & see how it all turns out when Spring manages full steam ahead. Plants have surprised me before by rising again past a full year later...

Anybody in the Chicago area or similar climate areas seeing any signs of life on their Pinky Winky, Glowing Ember, Incrediball or Moonlight? Some of my hydrangeas like Forever and Ever and Endless Summers are slowing shooting out. But my Pinky Winky, Glowing Ember, Incrediball, and Moonlight look so hopeless right now. I'm assuming that my Glowing Ember is done for since I forgot to cover it over the winter. But I really hope the rest will somehow come to life soon.

My paniculatas are all starting to show signs of life. Of my Macs and Serratas, only Blue Billow is showing green. It has green from the base and up and down the canes. I'm pretty impressed. We even had nights in the mid 20's this week and Blue Billow appears to be unharmed. If it blooms, I'll really be impressed. As for the rest, mostly rebloomers, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they survived. Still too early to tell. Hope we don't have another winter like this in a long time.

Oakleafs woke up early and managed to skirt a freeze when the freeze warning did not materialize. I thought the leaves would have been goners if it happened. Many macs appear to have "lost" some stems and are getting new growth from the base. Probably not due to that freeze but unusually low temps we had earlier. I have an Annabelle that has not awakened and is starting to concern me. Camellias are "finishing up" on the bloomage I should have seen in January. Wisteria is is also finishing up. Roses are either blooming or getting ready to bloom.

Spring still hasn't settled in here, very late this year. Dogwoods & early azaleas just beginning to bloom, everything in slow motion, thunderstorms today. Surprised to read this nursery near Atlanta reporting 80% of their gallon macrophyllas were killed to the root over Winter. Guess I'll just need to be patient with mine...

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter damage Atlanta nursery

This post was edited by vasue on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 20:10

Oh wow! At least it would not be a total loss. And the rebloomers -if any- might still command good prices if they "look" good.

I still remember Atlanta getting hit one year with a long thaw, followed by a freeze that killed a large number of trees because the thaw tricked them into leafing out too early! I do not remember how hydrangeas/azaleas/etc fared but remember that it killed a lot of tree$$$.

Thanks for the link!

Good morning. I haven't been on here in ages. I was searching for info on how to tell if my hydrangeas are still alive or not and re-found this site. What a hellish winter! I have dozens of hydrangeas and the only ones that have any green starting are the Lady In Reds (both semi-protected at the corners of my house) and 2 of the Oak Leafs - Alice - and I'm not sure what the other one is. I am so disappointed. I have these in the entire border around my house. I have spent 13 years planting and nurturing these plants. They are my favorites. Do you think I should leave them be for the year and see what happens? I sure can't afford to replace them all at this point. It's been years of collecting a few at a time. Thanks for your help:(

My Little Lamb and little Honey (?) are branching out. I have 5 others that are showing some life at the base only, not on the canes. Will hold off trimming canes just in case..
Will they develop new canes???

Yes, to-called "life at the base" will become tomorrow's canes so they are now in the process of developing new canes.

Hello does anyone know how to store a newly propagated hydrangea stem in a cold winter country?I plan to try it this in the fall.

All my white flowered ones (non machrophylla) are fine. The mac canes died everywhere they were exposed. I might some blooms from canes way down on the plants.

My preziosa also had no die back. Must be winter tough

I only have one - an es. Quite a few years old. I was really worried it might not come back just from the leaf spot it had last year alone. It completely defoliated the poor plant until finally it was just bare canes a month or so before my growing season ended. It had given up for the year, and I was afraid it gave up for good.

I've seen new growth starting two weeks ago! But I've already picked off two leaves with a spot on them. I feel like this plague is going to continue. :(

As of today, on all outdoor specimens:

50+ macrophylla - nothing green above 3" off the ground on anything. Not to say the buds are dead, but they look brown and soggy, even though the stems are still alive. It looks like I may have lost one, an ES, that had "tree trunk" syndrome where the crown was above ground. No nothing from that plant.

Grayswood, Preziosa and Tuff Stuff - same as macs for now

Quercifolia Alice - deer ate 90% of buds as usual, even though I used liquid fence on dormant plants all winter.

3 H. arborescens are far ahead, with leaves coming out along the 2' tall stems (I keep mine trimmed to that height).

10 H. paniculata are fine. All pruned and ready to go. Buds leafing out. Grandiflora is always last.

Twist and Shout and Lady in Red, and Bloomstruck loaded with buds-see ES buds coming from the ground so some will bloom this year-most will not.