Well, 8 years is a bit long without blooms even for climbers. Can you tell us more about its culture? Soil type, watering and where on the planet it is growing, just to name a few?

tj

Browning thst starts on the edges of the leaves and "moves" inwards suggests that the shrub needed water and did not get it or did not get enough. As the plant gets larger, it will need more water so tweak your watering amounts or frequencies as soon as you notice browning of leaves (especially during the summer).

The plant may also have aborted blooms (1 and 2) prematurely when it could not absorb enough water. 8 years without blooms sounds long but not for a climbing hydrangea.

The bad and good leaves will soon dry out and fall down on their own so I would leave them alone. Ditto for the rest of the plant. If there are curently dead branches though, you could prune those off.

I am very patient - almost never toss a plant - rescue hydrangeas all the time, but after 8 years, I would get a new plant! lol Now is a good time to find one - many are on sale - find the oldest - biggest - one you can afford. Make sure it has a nursery tag and Plant it in a new spot and hopefully it will bloom in a couple of years.

I'm not sure exactly what you were expecting but that hydrangea HAS bloomed - old flowerheads are readily apparent in the first and second photos.

That it produced mostly fertile florets - tiny little flowers - is not at all uncommon with climbing hydrangeas and especially ones that have not yet fully matured. 8 years in the ground is only just the beginning of full establishment for H. petiolaris and folks often wait 5-10 years or more for this climber to flower reliably and consistently. Even then, you are not going to get full, dense flowerheads. Climbing hydrangeas produce lacecap type flowers or flattened corymbs of mostly fertile florets sparsely outlined with the larger, showier sterile florets.

This is what the flowers will look like:

If this is not what you want or expected, by all means move or remove. But your vine has bloomed and should continue to do so going forward.

Gardengal, I am going to get my glasses updated! lol I did not see the dried flower heads but there they are.