Agree with Luis....looks like a touch of cold damage. And unless you have a magnesium deficiency (rare), applying Epsom salts achieves nothing.

Ha! I think you are right! I forgot we the temps went down this week. Thank you for the help.

And since they are restarting from the ground, you may live in a place that you won’t get a lot of bloom unless they are rebloomers.

Thank you, but what does that mean? If they bloom on old wood I shouldn’t prune them? Sorry, newbie here 😬

What is your location? What kind of hydrangea is it?

It is best to talk about this with an example: Hydrangea macrophyllas normally develop invisible flower buds in late Summer to early Fall. Your macrophyllas -I assume that is what they are- developed flower buds in late Summer 2019 to early Fall 2019. These invisible flower buds open in early Spring 2020 and resemble small broccoli heads. Those hydrangeas usually do not produce any more flower buds or blooms until late Summer 2020 or early Fall 2020. Any new stems that develop from the base of these hydrangeas in Spring 2020 will bloom in Spring 2021. Pruning now any live stems from last year may cut off the flower buds developed in late Summer 2019 and which should open in Spring 2020.

New hydrangea macrophyllas have come into the market and these are sometimes called rebloomers (but the correct term is remontant). The same stems is not reblooming. For these "rebloomers", the new stems that develop from the base in Spring 2020 produce flower buds in late Spring 2020 to early Summer 2021 and these open in the Summer 2020 months. Flower buds for Spring 2021 develop a little afterwards. For these rebloomer hydrangeas to bloom from new stems, those new stems need to get tall enough and old enough to develop flower buds.

The stems that existed back in the Fall are called "old wood". They should leaf old as late as mid-to-late May and then they should bloom. But that is provided that any cold weather where you are located did not kill them. If they got zapped or they get zapped regularly, they will not leaf out by mid to late May. You can prune these dead looking stems all the way down if they fail to leaf out by mid-to-late May.

Luis, thank you for the info! Very helpful. I'm in NJ zone 7a, I have the Peace Hydrangea macrophylla and endless summer hydrangeas. The Peace ones were in a really sunny spot and were doing terrible. The endless had a lot of blackspot so I trimmed back all of it. Safe to say I may have butchered them thinking I was helping :(. Well, lesson learned. Hopefully they will do better this year and I can have flowers in 2021...

Peace and the ESs are rebloomers. The old wood, if it had survived the cold winter and your pruning, would have produced blooms . Since they are rebloomers and you are in Zone 7, in theory, the new wood should produce a second flush of flowers in mid-to-late Summer or early Fall. Good luck.

I have to give them shade by 11am (stronger sun down here so no 11am-12pm during the summer months).

Hydrangeas suffer from a very common fungal infection called cercospora leaf spot that is usually caused by watering the leaves. Minimize getting the leaves wet (I switched to a drip system to save $$$ when the sprinkler system broke). If you cannot, try watering close to 6am. The ugly leaves and the blooms (they probably have spores) should be disposed in the trash. There is currently no fungicide that gets rid of cercospora. The only ones out there only help control bad infestations.

Fungicides rarely "get rid" of anything. Virtually all are prophylactic in nature, meaning they need to be applied before an infection in order to prevent it. And any number of common garden fungicides can be used to limit cercopsora. It just needs to applied periodically in spring and early summer, beginning just as the shrub leafs out.

thank you garden gal! will keep that in mind, will try to move the sprinklers away from them this year.

Macs are just to much WORK...THERE are so many Hys out there that will give blooms all Season

How much work a hydrangea macrophylla may be is really going to vary by location. In my area, they require nothing more than deadheading and the occasional removal of dead wood. And they bloom ALL season as well...........I had flowers going into November!

Granted GG u are in Hydrangeas Heaven .. the East, Mid West and mid Atlantic ... MACS are just to much wk ...

One of the more active former members of this forum lived in Connecticut and he had a garden full of macs that bloomed very reliably. And much of coastal New England is known for their bigleaf hydrangeas.

I guess it depends what you want from your garden :-) I find very little appeal in paniculatas or arborescens but am constantly amazed at the color range and flower forms of macs, serratas and asperas. And I love every oakleaf hydrangea I have ever seen (with the exception of 'Vaughn's Lillie').

GG WHen WAS THE LAST U WINTER PROTECTION...even Cape Cod has prom lens lately...Macs are a tough buy in this area ..love

Not sure why you feel the need to shout at me :-(

The Cape doesn't appear to have much of a problem, as they host a hydrangea festival each year over the 4th of July and photos of last year's event show gardens full of big, in-full-bloom macrophyllas. Same with Cape May, which is probably closer to the OP's location anyway.

I love all hydrangeas!..but in a cold climate as hyed said macrophyllas aren't worth the trouble..to me paniculatas are as beautiful as macrophyllas..and their size is more impressive..I've heard people say mophead flowerheads are "overblown" and "gaudy"..I admit I think peony blooms are prettier than a mophead's..and peony blooms are fragrant unlike a mophead..I admit that I prefer lacecaps over mopheads..my favorite arborescens is White Dome..it's understated compared to Annabelle and Incrediball..isn't it great that there's variety and everyone can grow their favorite..

gardengal..it's great that you can grow macrophyllas since you find paniculatas and arborescens have "very little appeal"..I think hyed was offering an alternative in a cold climate..your negative comments about the cold tolerant hydrangeas (oakleafs an exception) while raving about your wonderful macrophyllas feels insulting..there are beautiful gardens worldwide that don't have one macrophylla..everyone has plant favorites..why not say "macrophyllas are my favorite" and leave it at that..

I think hyed used caps to enforce the point that someone who gardens without the need for winter protection may not fully appreciate the time and effort involved to protect plants..and when the reward is just a few blooms it's tempting to grow an easier plant..

Thank you Nichols, I will look into the other varieties. this is my second year gardening so I’m still experimenting with what works here. I loved the Peace bc of its delicate and pink blooms, but they were planted in the wrong spot. sun here is very strong.

The hydrangeas look so sad. on the other side my peonies are thriving

Roses are doing well too. So maybe I have to plant a more sun loving plant...

Proof I don’t kill everything in my garden 😆

CeresMer..just an idea for macrophyllas..do you have an east facing garden area NEXT to your house?..out of westerly winds?..your zone is warmer than mine..that might work..do you see them blooming in your area?..

your peonies do look great..my peonies also look better than my macrophyllas..

Yes!! Is where they are planted right now, the front of the house, sun till around 1pm. They were in the south side, where the peonies are now, sun all day. they barely survived last summer... some of my neighbors have hydrangeas and they do pretty well here, specially the paniculatas. if by next year they are still struggling I might replace them with some roses... I just planted 7 to see how they will do.