In areas were the stems regularly dry out during winter, you can prune them off ahead of time but, if you have not needed to prune in three years, I would not start if I were you. Old stems also tend to be stronger than new stems and flop less. Just take it easy and enjoy! I have not pruned live stems either in over 8 years although I did have a lot of stems die on this last winter of 2013-2014 and those were pruned.

What type of hydrangeas do you have, hydrangeas have different pruning requirements.

Hydrangea macrophylla (mop head), serrata, quercifolia all bloom on wood produced the previous growing season. Fall and Spring pruning then removes the flower buds and you'll have tidy plants with foliage but no flowers. There are exceptions with the newer hybrids, some plants are currently offered that bloom on both old and new wood...

Hydrangea paniculata and arborescens bloom on the current seasons growth and those you could prune now, late winter, or Spring.

If you have the mophead types, or macrophylla hydrangeas, they don't really require pruning other than deadheading spent blooms and removing anything damaged or winter killed.

Where winter damage is possible I would not prune in fall as you may get more die back than if the stems had been left intact until spring.

The commercially prevalent ones that bloom more are the Endless Summer series from Bailey Nurseries. What seems to be different about these is that they tend to present a more or less full compliment of flowers for a longer period in summer than some older introductions. I am not sure about the new wood/old wood thing, it seems like it has long been usual for H. macrophylla cultivars to flower off both younger and older stems. Last year I saw a few other, non-Endless Summer mop-head cultivars at a local outlet that were blooming later in the season as heavily as the 'Bailmer' they had were ('Bailmer' is the Endless Summer series hydrangea that first came out, remains constantly yet wrongly referred to and presented as 'Endless Summer' by the unaware).

the mound of dead stuff.. is the plant self mulching of the crown .. the part at the ground ...

so i leave it.. to do its job... and cut back to the first or second low buds in spring ...

whats the alternative.. cut them now.. and then mulch them.. crikey ... that might be counter intuitive.. lol ..

ask me how many years i did it counter intuitively ... lol.. at least ten.. before i got lazy and left them ...

ken

Don't know what types of hydrangeas I have because they were planted by the previous homeowner. Below are pics of the three different varieties I have. There are two pics of each....one from a distance and one up close.

Those all appear to be bigleaf hydrangeas, Hydrangea macrophylla. There is often dieback of older stems, especially in colder climates, and these can/should be removed. I find the best time to do this is in early spring as the plant is beginning to leaf out. At that time, buds on healthy stems will be apparent, while dead wood will have no bud development (and usually a pale color and dry, dead appearance). It is easy to tell the difference before the leaves fully emerge and also easy to get to the base of the dead wood to remove.

Other than that, I am disinclined to cut back macs at all as it is far too easy to adversely impact the flowering on all but a few "reblooming" varieties. You can always remove old flowerheads by clipping off right above the set of buds immediately beneath them.

Do you winter-protect your hydrangeas? In zone 6 and lower, nascent flower buds on these types of hydrangeas are often damaged by winter cold, removing or serious delaying the ability to bloom.

I like your suggestion about culling the stems with no buds in the Spring but why would that not be a good idea to do now in the Fall?

How do you winter-protect hydrangeas? I noticed that the leaves on these hydrangeas don't really start to appear until it's practically summer time. Is that a sign that I'm not doing something right?

Also.... in periods of dry hot weather, I noticed that the ones along the fence (that receive the most sunlight) start to wilt. As soon as I deeply water them they perk up by the end of the day and life goes on. Is that a sign of nutrient deficiency?

You can of course cut them off now - dead wood can be removed at any time. It's just a lot easier to do so when there are no leaves present so recommend it as an annual practice every spring.

There are various methods of winter protection, often involving building some sort of wire cage around the shrub then filling the cage with shredded leaves or straw, etc. It kind of depends on your climate as to how proactive you need to be -- in my climate, winter protection is unnecessary but is usually recommended for at least zone 6 and lower.

Virtually all species of hydrangea prefer some shade, typically in the hottest part of the day. Exposure to hot afternoon sun in summer frequently will cause wilting - it's not a nutrient deficiency. Ideally they should be situated where they receive morning sun and afternoon shade but plenty of water can offset the issue as well. The exception are the panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), which is much more sun and heat tolerant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea macrophylla winter care

So is this going to be your third or fourth winter? I ask because last winter was extra harsh and die-back would be expected. How about your previous winter(s)? If you have a normal zone 6 winter you may not have any die-back at all and cutting them now would be a shame.

tj

There is almost always some dieback on hydrangeas - or at least some dead stems - after winter regardless of zone. And there are very visible dead sticks showing in all the photos. No reason at all not to remove - they won't regenerate.