Just for my own wiki...

Dug up a 55+ year old Hydrangea. I was expecting to put in some work - what came out of the dirt was a single mono 2'W x 15"D x 15"H woody crown - basically the size of a small log. I always thought it was a mass of huge roots on what I've observed on the soil surface, but post digging, but it turns it was one huge woody crown.

Do most woody shrubs develop large single massive crowns as they age