In my area, a mac in a container in zone 7b wouldn't require any winter protection :-) And yes, it can dip into the high teens from time to time but usually never before things are fully dormant. And we also tend not have any late winter or early spring freezes.....just a very gradual warming. It is my belief that it is this situation (rather than midwinter cold) that causes the most issues with flower bud damage on macs.

Do you have an unheated shed or garage you could store the potted plant in? That would tend to keep temperatures more even with less radical swings. You still might need some light protection, but not like you would need if left outside all winter

Just a note but the "plump buds" you see now are leaf buds.....not flower buds. Those are completely invisible at this stage. And leaf buds can be cold damaged and still come back strong.

And kitasei, there is no issue with cold and paniculatas. These should not require any winter protection.

Gardengal48, no shed or garage. And we do get odd freezes. Urban large-container garden. Kitasei, I caution against the black bag. I felt it allowed my plant to cook during moderate temps because circulation was limited.

While the plant is not dormant yet, some leaf buds may show green at times. If these green buds dessicate, they will turn brown but.... they may either turn brown quickly or (when it is very cold/frozen) take their time changing to brown. The winter hardening process also makes the buds turn brown-ish, which makes it tough to know if it is alive or not.

jana, I take your point, but didn't you enclose your hydrangeas in the black plastic bags, which would have allowed heat to build up inside? You think heat will transfer from the wall of bags I'm proposing to the otherwise exposed plants?

Kitasei, I misunderstood your post! Yes, I enclosed them.

I had the same issue back in Nov (haven't been on here in a while). Leaves were still on the plants and were still the healthy green color. People on here advised waiting for the leaves to drop before protecting. Then boom, out of now where we had a good cold front come through which finally killed the leaves off. It dipped down into the low/mid 20s F for two nights in a row. I wasn't paying attention to weather forecasts so they were unprotected those two nights. I'm thinking they will be OK but who knows.

I've gone the route of wooden stakes/burlap with a mixture of hay/leaves. I've read that the plastic bag approach may cause issues since it could act as a greenhouse in sunlight and cause the plant to come out of dormancy. Also, the bags can trap in moisture which can lead to fungal issues.

Wonky weather here. A good handful of mine have emerging green from the developed brown leaf nodes from this fall. LOL, in area's here in there, some of my middle spring bulbs areas - they have started to poke their heads out past the mulch height

When do the bulbs normally poke their heads out for you? Sounds like they are not dormant.

Spring flowering bulbs are never dormant in winter......you just do not always see the activity going on but they are doing their thing!!

In my area, bulb foliage appearing throughout the winter is very common. I can see daffs, tulips and hyacinths peeking through and even flower buds on the snowdrops. Aside from the snowdrops, which are extremely early bloomers, I wouldn't expect to see much other than foliage until mid to late March. But even a late winter or early spring severe cold spell or snowfall will not faze them and the bulbs will prform as scheduled.

Yeah, I know GG. They just sorta stop once they feel the cold.

LOL, tomorrow is going to be a record breaking blustery 59F tomorrow. at least 20F than normal.

That is when I start thinking how long before the temps come crashing down! Hee hee hee.

(Nothing profound here but I do wonder when "we" will come to the conclusion that such unusual weather really is the new norm?)

Gee whiz. It's been so mild and wet this year, I'm thinking about actually removing some of the mulch and leaves. Too wet.......

LOL. If it's too hot we're complaning. With no frost finger cold, we're still complaining.

Hee hee hee! It has been mild here too so I have not protected the hydrangeas. We got under the freezing mark a few times but, I guess you could say 'barely' (around 29-30). The oakleafs still have last year's foliage.

Consider adding more foliage instead, as the weight of wet leaves may force settling and expose the ends of the stems to the cold. But do not bother if all still looks ok.

Happy New Year! Luis

I cannot recall a more milder and wet winter to date. eh, maybe I will find out what some or you northerly neighbors complain about late frosts, as aside from side leaf nodes having green emerging from their usual brown shells, I spied green coming out of the terminal ends today.

Just checking back into houzz. Late to respond to your question. Wedding Gown is good zones 5-9 according to Burpee. Do you have the option of planting it in the ground? What zone are you in? I too am in SE PA.

LOL!! All macs will be rated to zone 5 (a few even to zone 4). That guideline is associated only with root hardiness and really has no bearing on latent flower bud hardiness or stem (and therefore leaf bud) viability. If you want to ensure no stem dieback or loss of flower buds due to cold damage (either early cold or late freezes) then these plants will require winter protection in any areas that might offer these conditions. In the ground or out of the ground!!

"No" to planting in the ground without winter protection in z5. Macs will have difficulty flowering reliably in very cold areas (bitter colds like in zones 4-6 and sometimes in warmer zones ). If winter is mild (very mild? ) then a mac maybe can bloom unprotected in cold areas. But without winter protection, the stems may usually dry out and die in these cold places (the roots will be fine and, in the Spring, you do get new growth/stems). In the warmer zones, the stems may not get zapped but the flower buds could get zapped too.

In both scenarios, you may not get flowers unless the mac is a rebloomer or unless a stem/bud somewhere, somehow survives. In a pot, you could bring it inside while it is winter or while there is risk of frost (so the leaves do not get zapped early).

Of the Woods. I’m in 7b, downtown Philadelphia. No option for ground planting; I have a concrete backyard and garden with large containers.

I cut some stems off some of my Endless Summer varieties in my yard a few weeks ago and forced in the house. Coldest they had seen was about 0 degrees F. The stems leafed out most of the way, a few all the way to the tips. We had a long, cool fall with no severe cold snaps early. With no snow and the bitter cold finally coming, that will probably knock them back to the crown.

Ha. Seems like we're finally seeing the winter temps. It's been soooo mild. My younger plantings got woody and have seemed to remain dormant. My more established ones, many brown shells popped and the left buds were showing all various stages of green. Sofar, still green. Maybe another day of these temps will do them in

jana,

I think your plant will be fine. Expect some Winter die back. Make sure you post blooming pics in the Spring.