They are not too common but sometimes you get some.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oakleaf runners/sprouts

I've definitely seen seedlings around oakleaf hydrangeas!

How wonderful goohors - I remember a thread here a few years back about how you protected a particularly beautiful Oakleaf H you have ~ was it harony. It was the year I first got my Alice?

I won't be surprised if you found seedlings (w/ own roots) around your wooded back. Wind might have carried seeds ~ since H quercifolia is native here, you might very well have babies growing where you have older shrubs!!!

My Tardiva is more understandable as they have tons of seeds ~ I've harvested/potted 2 babes w/ own roots they are growing well about 2 ft round & just planted in ground early Spring ~ 1 has budded just this week!!!

Have fun w/ you discovery!!!

How wonderful goohors - I remember a thread here a few years back about how you protected a particularly beautiful Oakleaf H you have ~ was it harony. It was the year I first got my Alice?

I won't be surprised if you found seedlings (w/ own roots) around your wooded back. Wind might have carried seeds ~ since H quercifolia is native here, you might very well have babies growing where you have older shrubs!!!

My Tardiva is more understandable as they have tons of seeds ~ I've harvested/potted 2 babes w/ own roots they are growing well about 2 ft round & just planted in ground early Spring ~ 1 has budded just this week!!!

Have fun w/ you discovery!!!

Thank you for that information everyone. I am kind of excited to find this stem, will be very interested to see how it grows.

Yes ditas, if it is an Oakleaf Hydrangea, it must be from the one I told you about that was a slow starter for a couple years, then took off well. Seems like it was Snow Queen or something similar. Still only about 6ft tall, just much broader. Fits his space perfectly. I have had it now about 10 years and still really like it. Leaf shapes are so attractive to me. Just starting to bloom right now. Having a second one will be a great bonus!!

BTW goodhors ~ wasn't it you who has a Vaughn's Lillie OL H ~ I remember bookmarking a thread about over-wintering Oakleaf Hydrangeas when I first got mine in 2006. I have since upgraded my system & lost much of my bookmarked items.

I did a search & couldn't find the particular thread. A few events happened last Fall & I ran out of time protecting many of my marginal bloomers & had to leave Oakleaf Hs to fend for themselves. Last Winter was particularly easier than usual, both Alice & Snow Queen have grown in leaps & are in full bloom. Wonder if at their age now (6 & 7y/o) they can handle to be on their own thru Winter?

I quit the extra protection after a few years, when it had gained more size and stems. I did more of a wrapping on the cage around the shrub, to break the cold wind which blows all the time in winter. I worked at a warehouse at the time, so we often had the saran-wrap type plastic on pallets of boxes. It was clear, tall at about 48" high, and with only one cut to open the pallet, ends overlapped on the cage. I used string over the plastic to hold it up on the shrub cage for winter. Usually took a couple or three strings if cage was tall. I have hay bales, so binder twine was easily available for that.

Shrub had lots of shredded oak leaf mulch over the roots, piled into the cage about 5" after wrapping, but not deep enough to cover the sticks. Again, more of a wind break than anything else. I liked that the plastic wrap could let the sunshine get on the sticks. I think plants always need sun, and no cover on cage top to hold in any heat. Nothing I did this wrapping on, sprouted early or died, so I put method down as "successful" in protection.

The Oakleaf has done just great without the protection since then. Little or no frozen branch ends, blooms reliably each year. Winters have been VERY cold, warmer, wet like this last one, shrub does fine.

Probably the cage and wrap was overkill, but I REALLY wanted that small plant to survive! So I was willing to put in the extra time doing the wraps. Cage was big enough to not have branches rubbing in any wind from the top. At the time I thought Hydrangeas were "delicate" and needed that kind of care. Learned more since then, and only one expensive Japanese Maple gets a cage and wrapping now! More because the DOG finds it irrisistable to chew on when snow is deep. Hydrangeas of all sorts do just fine left alone in winter.

Thanks for taking the time to rehash how you over-wintered your young OL H.
I've protected mine (Q of S & Alice) in the past w/ cages & burlap-wrap along w/ dry leaves around & even wrapped the cage w/ lanscaping fab. As they got older I lessened the layers of protection & last fall I simply left them on their own (ran out of time). Fortunately it was a mild Winter & the early onset of Spring they both grew in leaps & flushed blooms more than ever!

Perhaps a bit more sun exposure helped after we had our old pear tree (that gave them some dappled shade) trimmed & cleaned from tornado-wind damages.

I'm so pleased w/ how they both are this season. I may just mulch them heavily & leave them this coming winter & see. Their canes are thicker after 7 years!

Again best wishes on your babes!!!