This is the second of two reports on winter's impact on my hydrangeas. A brief recap here. In my last post, I detailed how I went out in May to assess winter's damage, fearing the worst. We had had a 2 week stretch of exceptionally cold winter weather which typically freezes the flowers buds that sleep in the stems of hydrangeas that bloom on old wood. You can get all the details on that report by going to https://bit.ly/2lRGNlm   So now it's time to tell you what happened to my mountain hydrangeas, botanically known as hydrangea serrata. A little background here. Mountain hydrangeas are so called because they come from the mountains of Japan and Korea . The best part of that heritage is that they are better adapted to sustain cold climates and winter conditions. Which is just dandy for those of us who have to put up with Mother Nature's challenges.   Unlike my bigleaf hydrangea macrophyllas, every single one of my mountain hydrangeas had flower buds on ...

Time to report on winter's impact on my hydrangeas. In early May, I went out to my Zone 5 garden to see what winter had done to my hydrangeas that bloom on old wood: macrophyllas (big leaf) and hydrangea serratas (mountain). I also checked on the quercifolias (oak leaf) and petiolaris (climbing).   I held my breath, fearing the worst since we had a brutal 2 week spell of cold temperatures to close out 2017 and begin 2018 in southwest CT :