Zone 6a. My Hydrangea Macrophylla Blaumeise has leafed out and the best I can say about any old wood growth is that a few of the old stems have new branches coming out of them very low to the ground (in like the first 8" of the stem)... but definitely originating from the old branch, so I'm hoping that would qualify as 'growth from old wood' and I might see a few flowers this year, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Anyway, since it seems flushed out and I don't see anything else tiny and green poking out anywhere, I was going to prune back the old branches to any new growth. The thing is, when i cut these branches, they are still quite green on the inside. They aren't totally dry and dead. So I'm wondering is this typical or should I wait a while longer and maybe they'll do something?

Here's a pic of one stem cut. Definitely no growth coming out of this stem and no solid buds left on it anywhere. But definitely looks green inside.