So far there don't seem to be a lot of things that failed due to the terrible winter. We lost both buddleias and a volunteer crepe myrtle, and have one other shrub that is looking damaged, but for the most part most things seem to be recovering.
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| Last year this Endless Summer-type [Hydrangea macrophylla 'Bailmer' PPAF] was in full bloom on June 8. This year it has just started putting out new growth at the bottom, with absolutely no leaves on the old wood. |
The major exception seems to be the hydrangeas. By now they should have leafed out on the old wood in preparation for blooming in June. But, they haven't and it now looks to me like the types that bloom on "old wood" - most of the traditional varieties - will not bloom at all this year.
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| This is Hydrangea macrophylla 'Glowing Embers' - a beautiful mop head-type that should be fully leafed out by now with plenty of flower heads developing. |
All of them a putting out new growth at the bottom, but little or no leaf growth on last year's wood. My other Endless Summer-type [Hydrangea macrophylla 'Lady in Red'] looked like this on Saturday.
There is some leaf growth on the old wood, but most of the "green" is new growth that is already nearly full size. It took only a little while to clean it up and cut off the dead, so that now it looks like this:
It looks much better, but for now is simply a green plant with no sign of buds developing. I hope the ever-blooming varieties - like this will bloom later on the new growth, but i think we will totally lose the early bloom on them, too.
The damage could be a lot worse, but I'm sorry to miss the early flush of mop heads!
