The dried out stems suggest that they could not withstand the cold and drying conditions experienced during the winter of 2011-2012. I would make sure that the winter protection be expanded to 6-12" away from the sides of the shrub and upwards, from the top of the stems's tips. Add or pack as much material as you can, maybe more than you used last year. An unusually cold year could have resulted in this; so could an insufficient amount of leaves packed tightly.

Excess/unused material can be saved in plastic bags. Use that to add some more in mid-winter, when settling can expose the plant sides or top to winter. As long as the soil does not freeze, consider watering during dry years.

The dried out stems can now be pruned. If they were to have leafed out, they would have done so by mid-May or so at the latest. Prune them down to ground level.

Also, do not fertilize anymore after the end of June. This will help the shrubs by making them go dormant in the Fall instead of making them stay in growth mode. Stems left in growth mode can be damaged by early frosts.

The only problem with doing some trimming after June is that these hydrangeas generate flower buds sometime between July-August and most blooms occur near the end of the stems. So pruning in the Fall can result in cutting off next year's early blooms that these remontant varieties will produce. The plants' overall health, however, would not be affected.

Luis

I agree with everything suggested by Luis.

I'm in zone 6a, and pretty much a newbie to growing hydrangeas, but my Twist-n-Shout that I planted last year is magnificent. Last fall I got a roll of mesh fencing and stakes and built a barrel around it and filled the barrel with leaves burying the hydrangea completely. I pulled out the leaves in the spring when deep freezing was over and just kept a tarp around for frost warnings through late spring.

I also did not prune anything until just after it started to leaf out this spring and then inspected carefully before cutting to be sure I was only removing dead wood. I now have 30 blooms coming on that one little shrub.

Thank you for the advice. I'm disappointed that my once large plants that I paid good money for now look like starter plants. I'll be working on some winter protection this year.