So that is where the strong 60+ MPH winds in my area went to! I was just noticing mamy trees that went down and lost branches here! Regarding your Anna, I would first make sure that the soil remains well mulched and evenly moist so the leaves stop showing a wilted look. You could then prune stems that remain bent and consider using some chicken wire around the shrub to straighten things upwards a bit. Like when one tightens a belt around the waist. An alternative, good when straightening only one or a handful of stems, might be to use those gladiolus stakes. As for the damaged leaves, they could be removed now but I prefer that the plant decide to do that by letting them brown out; once they brown out, I cut them off. If the plant keeps using those leaves and the leaves remain green, I leave them alone unless they are front and center and bug me too much. Same thing with the blooms. Because of the damage, I would be tempted to remove all blooms so the plant concentrates energies on the rest but knowing me, I would probably leaves one or tweo blooms anyways... Hee hee hee. In future years, the stems will get thicker and stronger but not yet.

Thanks Luis! I was hoping that you'd answer as you are so knowledgable. I watered the plant really well as soon as I saw it, so yesterday. I did have some gladiolus stakes that I had lying around and the plant loooks a bit better now, thank you! It is just starting to bloom and I lost a couple of blooms due to the wind so it would be really hard to prune them off... But I will if I have to. When you say that it would cause the plant to focus energy on the rest, do you mean on new blooms or just the rest of the foliage? I usually only cut down Anna a bit in spring but this year I wanted BIG blooms so I cut her way down and am now regretting it.

We also lost some tree branches here and I had to run and put my ducks away lest a branch fell on them. It was like a mini hurrican. My clematis almost got knocked down but is still standing just a bit wobbly. It is Frustrating to have all your plants looking good and about to bloom only to have a wind storm destroy them before you get your chance to enjoy them. I guess I should count my blessings in that only my Anna was damaged as it could have been worse.

I only have 1 Annabelle ~ she is quite taller than the Annabelles I've seen around our area DK why. Consequently, I ended up encaging her w/ green plasti-coated garden fencing (can get from big box stores) to help keep her upright as Luis suggested! A few stems will still be able to get thru that I have to wrap a nylon hose around as well.

Since she is tall, the 2ft hgt of the fence didn't completely protect all her rather thin legs heavy w/ dinner-plate sized blossoms ~ she took a hit from the wicked storm winds, last night as well. I will replace her cage to a taller one next season.

Wonder if there's something to make her a bit shorter in hgt?!!!

Ditas, how much damage did yours take? My Anna is about 3 years old and she usually stays at the same height as my ES, not sure of there is a trick to making them shorter except maybe the timing of when you prune them. The later, the shorter?

I never cage her as she lives under an overhang that protects her from the rain and since I water her at the base rather than from the top she never flops. Also, I usually do not prune her back hard so the smaller blooms behave better. I might just go out and buy some more of the stakes and stake her up for this year. The wilted leaves started to get crispy so I just pruned off the whole branch and now she looks a bit smaller but not as sad. I lost about four blooms in total :(

I lost much of the blooms that were on the stems that got thru the fencing wires but I don't miss as this Annie is so huge. I just got some nylon hose & wrapped all the others back close to the cage.

I pruned her quite low this past Fall to see if she changes her hgt growth ~ no diff from previous years of pruning in Spring. This girl is just a giant version (5ft+). Most of her blooms are as large as a dinner plate (ball) so gets heavy even dry! Will try to post pix!

DK what I'd do if I have more than just 1! LOL Have fun w/ yours!!!

Oh please do post a pic, i would love to see it. I love the blooms, there is just something spectacular about Annabell's white huge blossoms.

Annie took another hit from the very heavy rain these past 2 days ~ her rather slim legs can't seem to handle all the water collected by her huge blossom. Will take pix soon as she dries up a bit & add to the album from last season before posting link.

I wish I knew how to post individual pics as you & the other posters do, sigh!!!

detas, get a free account at photobucket.com, upload your pics to photobucket per their easy instructions, find and copy the HTML CODE (make sure it is the HTML CODE, not something else), paste it in the Garden Web message box, click on PREVIEW to see it.

Press ENTER one or more times and repeat the process as many times as you wish for entering more pictures.

You can type before and after each picture.

Hope that helps.

Kate

What Kate said, lol. I use photobucket as it is super easy.

Unfortunately, on Saturday afternoon we got hit with another wind storm but luckily I saw it coming and was able to surround her with chicken wire and cover her with blankets. I got wierd looks from the neighbors who are so not into gardening and were probably wondering what crazy chick was up to now. Anna looks a bit worse that she was but I think that I prevented worse damage. Such a diva! But so worth it.

Same here melaroma ~ had to clip lots of the dinner-plate sized balls ~ sigh! Still have some left & others still in green stages! I really have to create a taller cage for her!!!

No longer have time to run around covering up each time Ma Nature thows a curved ball!

The sad part to the bent/broken stems w/ the huge finials - she wilts quickly due to lack of maturity ~ sigh again!!!

Same here melaroma ~ had to clip lots of the dinner-plate sized balls ~ sigh! Still have some left & others still in green stages! I really have to create a taller cage for her!!!

No longer have time to run around covering up each time Ma Nature thows a curved ball!

The sad part to the bent/broken stems w/ the huge finials - she wilts quickly due to lack of maturity ~ sigh again!!!

Same here melaroma ~ had to clip lots of the dinner-plate sized balls ~ sigh! Still have some left & others still in green stages! I really have to create a taller cage for her!!!

No longer have time to run around covering up each time Ma Nature thows a curved ball!

The sad part to the bent/broken stems w/ the huge finials - she wilts quickly due to lack of maturity ~ sigh again!!!

I am Incredibly ticked off! Mother nature is a bully! We got hit with yet another wind storm so I run out at almost midnight to try and figure a way to fight her off. I finally come up with the (kind of pathetic) idea of covering Anna with a huge cardboard box but not before loosing two entire stems with two huge gorgeous blooms! They just came right off. Soooo ticked off. All of my other hydrangeas are troopers and do fine but Anna seems to be super delicate and I'm very close to just ripping her out and replacing her with some other white flowering hydrangea. She is three years old so she should be stronger than this. I can't get a break with her this year. Is Incrediball any better?

Suggestion: This fall, prune old and/or current year's wood back to 2', not to the ground. Stems will get woodier and all the buds should survive. You should get less ground flop and the woodier stems will help hold up the new 3' tall crown shoots with their dinner plate blooms.

If you want to go the Mac route, try Mme Mouillere. Mine bloomed entirely on new growth this year, and they grow rapidly. Some blooms are over 1' across and are long lasting with blush around the edges.

I Actually only prune her half way down and never to the ground although this year I did prune her down to about 6 or 8" so that her blooms do not get too big.

I looked at E Mouillere and she looks really pretty, if Anna continues to get worse.

Like melaroma am getting close to just letting it be ~ Ma Nature rules & I figured can't be bad every season. I am not inclined to rip her off as her floor is river-rocks covered (too much work).

However I was just about to post my ?? & Springwood_Gardens' tip makes sense & will try ~ that's to ?#1 Now ? #2 ~ is there a way to make my Annie a bit shorter/closer to the ground, as all the others I see around, even by just a ft? 4ft would be a great improvement!!!

Many thanks in anticipation of your expertise/experience!!!