Stems that remain bare by late May can be pruned off. The winter was too cold and they did not make it so the shrub started new stems from the ground in Spring to take their place.

If unsure of the status of the stem, prune it in 1" or 2" increments and stop when you hit green.

thanks for the insight! i guess i'm just super confused because so many of them are supposed to only bloom on old wood, but all of them are blooming. i guess i'll just prune off the old stems anyway, as long as they're alive and still blooming i guess i shouldn't worry too much about it!

The old wood, ie, the old stems, in your zone receive too much bitter drying winds and low temperatures. So much that the stems die and the shrubs return from new growth. It is common for this to happen when one gets to cold zones like Z6. However, this forces you to get hydrangeas that bloom on new wood, that rebloom or that are hardy to Zone 6.

Hydrangeas that bloom on old wood apparently are not able to withstand the cold winters where you live and they return from the ground. That is not good because that means that the blooms which they produced on the old dried out stems did not survive. And the new stems will not bloom this year.

If your Cityline Series Shrubs are growing from the ground, you will not get blooms because they bloom on old growth only. But I am surprised that this happened as they are advertised to be hardy to Zone 5!

Blushing Bride is a rebloomer though so, even if it looses last years stems, it will bloom from this year's new growth.

Make sure that you stop feeding them in July so the plant will go dormant in the Fall and not expose the flower buds and the stems to cold winds or cold temperatures. Also, if winter is dry and the ground has not frozen, water them a little, say, once every two weeks.