Now that you have completed cutting back your new wood blooming hydrangeas, it's time to look at what's happening with your old wood plants. Which ones are these? Your old wood plants include hydrangea macrophylla (big leaf), hydrangea serrata (mountain), hydrangea quercifolia (oak leaf) and hydrangea petiolaris (climbing) . Even if your plant is a rebloomer it retains old wood flower power and buds can be there that formed on last year's growth. 

GIFT HYDRANGEAS ARE HERE! Gift hydrangeas are here! Between Easter just past and Mother's Day just a few weeks away, it was inevitable that these traditional gift plants (also called florist hydrangeas) would show up. You can't avoid them in local garden centers, grocery stores, and box stores. Here in the northeast, blooming florist hydrangeas are a welcome sight as everyone is still struggling with unseasonably cold temperatures and continual lashings from snow, high winds, power outages and the like. So what should you do if you get one of these beauties? Enjoy these hydrangeas! All dressed up in colorful, shiny pastel colors like prom queens, they have been grown to brighten your home, having been specially fed and nurtured to put on a glorious show with lots of big flowers. To keep these gift hydrangeas happy, keep them moist but not wet. Make sure the water can drain from their paper wrappings so they don't sit in a puddle. Too much indoor heat wil...