Would love to see a photo, but if there are live buds along the stems, it sounds like you may need to be more patient, give it some time to see what it will do. If in a reasonable amount of time for your weather conditions your hydrangea does not leaf out at the ends of some of the stems, I would cut those back to healthy leaves to tidy it up. I would not cut out anything with life and leaves unless something looks very lopsided or distracts from the overall shape.

I have the same situation..some stems with no leaves or maybe a few..have been patient but plan to cut them soon..the plant will be more attractive without them..so where did u keep the pot in the winter?..put 2 pots in my shed..they've leafed out but no blooms..protected 6 outside..only 1 has blooms..

@nicholsworth55....I didn't place the pot in the garage over the winter. I just transplanted it into a pot from the ground in April this year. It had already started to sprout leaves when it was in the ground, but I had to move it or the construction workers working on my house would have trampled it. I was worried it would die, but it seems to be handling the move well. I was planning on putting it in the garage this coming winter, but I may choose to just protect it like I did when it was in the ground (chicken wire wrapped in a circle around it and filled with leaves).

Here's a closer look at the side of the plant that hasn't had leaves sprout yet. There are red buds all along the wood, but they haven't sprouted yet.

Here's a pic at the top where there is a flower bud, but the leaves haven't sprouted all the way to the top of the wood. The flower bud is on the right of the 'stick'. There is about 5 inches or so of wood that hasn't sprouted yet. Should I just wait until the end of June and then cut those sticks back to a healthy set of sprouted leaves or cut them all the way to the ground?

r the buds dry & crispy?..mine r..going to cut mine back to a live bud if there r any..see some leafless ugly stems?..there's a stem in back with top leaves but no leaves lower on the stem..not cute..yours is much fuller.. the other one has buds but naked at the bottom..

@springwood_gardens....Do I cut the wood just to where there are leaves sprouting or down to the soil? If I cut just to the first set of sprouted leaves will the wood branch? I don't want a lot of branching on my plant.

Cut it down until 1-2" increments and stop if you see green. Otherwise cut them all the way down.

Old wood will only branch from where there are green shoots coming out of it. At this time (~Memorial Day) I cut all brown stems down to the topmost green shoots. You don't really want to cut out all the old wood with live shoots on it because the plants prefer to bloom from those shoots (a.k.a. You'll be cutting off flowers).

@springwood_gardens....You say it will branch if you cut it to where green shoots are coming out. So what I'm hearing you say is if I cut it down to live shoots it will branch where I cut it? Right? Or does it only branch if you are closer to the soil? I have some wood that has green shoots on it about 2 inches up from the soil and then no more shoots. So do I cut that just to the shoots? Would I cut those old wood sticks all the way to the ground after it is done blooming sometime in July?