BTW, If you have anything at all in pots, you'll probably want to move them back inside or in a garage until the cold snap has passed. A single night in the 20s can cause the root ball to freeze near solid.

just wondering...were your macrophylla hydrangeas uncovered during the winter?...I covered mine during winter...uncovered recently then recovered yesterday...this better work...what a hassle

It is supposed to be below freezing here for more than 30 hours, and even then it will only just barely crawl above freezing a few times this coming week. I don't think my buds are rescuable since they have 1/4" leaves. Since I'm sick right now, not worth it . . .

Mine were mostly uncovered during the winter except for some leaves over the crown and some had piles of dried paniculata flower heads. The difference between winter and now is that the plants have now broken dormancy whereas in winter the buds had properly hardened off and had coverings over them. Anything that is now green is susceptible to frost. Trees might even be zapped. If you had your plants covered all winter and just uncovered them recently, you have made a mistake. You're not supposed to uncover hydrangeas until the last danger of frost has passed. Most things like roses, oakleaf and arborescens hydrangeas (and maybe even serrated can take the hit from spells like this, but not macs. Weather has its quirks too. Buffalo is supposed to get 8" of snow and it might actually insulate green plants. It is what it is!

NHBabs - sorry you're sick...it's just the macrophylla hydrangeas that could suffer right?...your beautiful paniculatas will come thru...

That's mostly correct. Paniculatas have broken dormancy, but they're slow starters and the buds are only in their infancy. It would take a pretty severe freeze to kill the buds in their current state. Macs' buds take off notoriously fast (and the base shoots even faster), hence the issues.

We escaped most of the early warmth and are getting missed by the worst of the cold so hopefully the macs will be okay. Some of the Bloomstrucks I've seen around town might leaf out from their terminals!

springwood - covered my macs with a big garb bag (cut bottom open) filled with oak leaves...weather was so warm lately I uncovered...they r leafing out all along the stem...they normally die back & I get only new growth...have recovered them...will stay that way awhile...think the light, air & rain helped them but the cold forced me to recover...put the pots in the garage...hopeful that I will have some blooms finally

pic of one of the pots...last fall planted in this pot...small & non flowering...put it in the shed inside a plastic bag full of leaves...if I had left it in the ground uncovered I would have dead stems...but now there's hope...leaves were perfect but I think a squirrel took a bite

My paniculatas have never had any issues with dieback. I thought I finally had a winter where I might see an early bloom on my macrophyllas, but I don't think it's likely with this weather.

Sorry to say I think you're right...macs r such a nightmare...

They're an addictive nightmare that is totally worth the effort!

I agree that they are addictive, but other than short-term protection, they are on their own in my garden. However, despite missing early bloom, they do bloom for me for most of the summer after sprouting from the ground, so I am glad to have them.

Nicholsworth, I wonder if yours are having issues due to low light levels. Mine do best with at least morning sun, and so I wonder if that is as much of an issue as the buds freezing for you since you have mentioned shade. I don't think I have any planted in less than 3 or 4 hours of sun.

NHBabs - have wondered about not enough sun...my neighbor has a perfect spot but still no blooms...she gets very pretty fall color...truly believe our climate is too cold...or inconsistent...warm/cold/warm/cold/warm/cold...

This morning everything had been rained and snowed on and was frozen solid, even the blankets. God knows / time will tell if anything made it or not. I grabbed a bluebell reed and it broke right off in my hand.... Looks like next weekend is supposed to be 25-27 at night as well. These things can't take much more of this.

Mine are in all kids of sun (a little to a lot). They either get blooms or they don't. I've yet to fully get the pattern but there are theories...

springwood - ugh...bad weather...phone says 40° here now...sunny...tomorrow is colder...macs will be undercover until who knows?...don't u think my potted macs look good?

Keep checking the weather forecasts. When we were given subfreezing forecasts back in Jan-Feb, they would slowly modify them and slowly inch the number closer to 32 degrees or above. Maybe it will happen again to y'all. Hard to think it is snowing anywhere when we have already hit 90s several weeks ago. Knocking on wood for your hydrangea flower buds!

Thanks! I've checked the extended forecast for the lows every day and unfortunately they haven't budged. Yes Nicholsworth the potted ones should look just like that right about now. The ones in my garage stayed in dormancy right up until mid-Feb and then they were placed outside until the freeze but, but they were starting to grow like mad. :)

Luis, it was 72 on Thursday here, but it's now around 25 and will be getting colder tonight. Both ends of the range are a bit on the extreme end of things here, and it was snowing today, something that happens most years at least a few times in April. No wonder the plants are mixed up.

I know, my late MIL in NH would sometimes compare and comment about our different climates when we talked on the phone in early Spring. I remember she once visited in early Spring and enjoyed her time by simply being outside drinking coffee. At home, she said she would have been inside due to the cold. I remember visiting her in May and finding snow in some parking lots near her home.

Even here, this has been a really strange winter. While my macrophyllas and paniculatas went to bed early and on time in the Fall, the oakleafs never fully went dormant and all of them broke dormancy early. An early blooming lacecap started its broccoli phase early last month and has some 1/2 to 1" buds now. In February, I had roses blooming alongside quinces, Chinese Fringe Flowers, camellias and one azalea that bloomed almost thru the whole length of winter. My dwarf peach tree started blooming in early March and is now loaded with 1/4 to 1" fruits. This is all plain strange, unusual and wacko! Last time this happened, I was in college in Atlanta and a good portion of the trees were lost in the city when the trees leafed out just a cold front hit.

I was sweating it out in Feb-March whenever I heard frost or freeze but we never got there. Hope your plants stay dormant a few more weeks. How close did we get to freezing? Well, I actually went through the bother of buying some chicken wire to winter protect the plants, placed it around some of them or near them but, ....... never used it.

You're right Hokie... And seems like they keep lowering the lows. A couple here are supposed to hit 23-22. I didn't even address those kinds of temps in my original post, but that represents an unusual weather pattern (which didn't even happen last year). In that instance there's pretty much nothing you can do to protect plants (green shoots/buds will still freeze at 22 no matter what you put on them). Late freezes are bad for almost everything though. Too many and there might not be any green anywhere until mid-May!

we are looking at 30 tomorrow night and 28 sat night cant cover them all!

well have 8 pots in the house and covered 50 here and 30 at church was to be best year ever-well AYesha was hurt and Midnight Salsa totally done in all others still look good despite 28this AM now to do it again Sat. night as cold as last night

Mine are still covered from November, and won't be uncovered till later this month. Zones 5 and 6 are "always cover" zones if you want to count on blooms on old wood.

Saturday night's gonna be painful. Calling for 20. :(

We got into single digits Monday and Tuesday night, so I will be looking at resprouting from the roots as per usual.

well all covered again got to upper 20s last night but they came thru Tuesday ok

Sprouts and buds mostly survived a night of 19(!), with the help of the plant matter piles and some blankets. Some leaf tips got "singed" and some leaves ate it, but (certain lengths of) the main stems survived!

Nikko:

Leaf pile on Nikko with some burnt daylilies in the background:

Burnt sprout cluster on variegated hydrangea:

springwood - u still have hope!..we were not as cold..6 of mine r still covered...hopefully not for long

the covered ones did pretty well so I think we are going to be ok!!!