Protecting Hydrangeas from Winter Weather
Hydrangeas are beautiful shrubs, I’d have to say my favorite flowering bush. I have 12 hydrangeas in my gardens, 11 different kinds. I don’t know if I can pick a favorite, I really love them all.
I have a few that have never bloomed because they’re the kind of hydrangea that only blooms on old wood. They aren’t hardy to this zone and the buds freeze out on the stems each year. I also have some hydrangeas that bloom on both old and new wood, these varieties are nice for our zone because if the buds freeze out you still get some blooms.
This was my hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’ in 2008, it’s 2nd year in the garden. This past winter was tough on the hydrangeas, we had some very cold weather. Because of all the snow on the ground, the local deer decided hydrangea buds made for delicious winter eating. My ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas didn’t bloom all summer long because the deer ate all the early summer blooms. They bloomed this fall, but they weren’t nearly as pretty as last summer.
I have “Nikko Blue’ hydrangea that has only bloomed 3 years of the 8 we’ve lived here. This one needs crated to bloom because it only blooms on old wood. I have a few other varieties like this, a variegated hydrangea, another red one (can’t remember the name) and one that gets wintered over in the garage in a big pot.
This year I finally decided to protect a few of my hydrangeas from the harsh NE Ohio winters and the nibble deer. My efforts should be rewarded with beautiful blooms all summer long!
There are several different methods for protecting hydrangeas. I’m going to use 2 of them. The first method will be used on my large mature hydrangeas. I’m wrapping them with burlap and stuffing the burlap with leaves. This should insulate the stems from the cold and keep the deer out.
I used red yarn to tie off the burlap because it’s easy to see. Next spring it will make it easy to unwrap the hydrangeas, I’ll be able to spot the ties easily. It also makes for easy spotting of your needle in case you drop it.
I put stakes around the shrub, 3 spaced in a triangular shape. I used 3 instead of 4 because I only have 6 nice wooden stakes and I have 2 very large hydrangeas that require heavy stakes. I’ll use smaller bamboo stakes around the smaller bushes.
I wrapped burlap around the stakes (it’s 4 ft tall) and filled the area inside with leaves. I finished wrapping one and I still have another large one to wrap. I’ll fill you in on the second method I’ll be using next week when I have some photos to show.
It’s not the prettiest thing, but I think in the snow it will look nice. I it’s worth looking at burlap all winter to see beautiful hydrangeas all summer long. One hydrangea down, 11 more to go.
Do go to any great lengths to protect any specific plants in your garden?
Filed under Plant Information, Seasons, Weather | Comments (6)
Loading ...
Interesting post. We don’t have deer problems here (central IL), but some hydrangea can be a little touchy if we get really cold. I’m currently growing Annabelle and an oakleaf. Other friends in town have Endless Summer and it was amazing this year. Good luck with the new strategy!
Chris Tidrick´s last blog ..All Bark, No Bite
to Chris Tidrick's comment
Annabelle and Oakleaf are the two best for cold weather areas! Annabelle seems to bloom prolifically no matter what conditions you throw at it and oakleaf seems to be very very hardy as well.
to Susy's comment
What an interesting post with lovely photos. Shrubs so pretty should not be so finicky!
I love Hydrangea also but am quite unlucky with them. My Endless Summer never bloomed this year at all. I never looked to see if buds were eaten by dear, which may have been the problem.
Your winter protection info and images are great.
to Susan's comment
Wow, amazing that you go to such lengths to protect them. What zone is Ohio in? how cold does it get? what kind of soil do you have? how much snow to you get? how windy is it ? Sorry for all the questions.
I hope the deer don’t get them now.
melanie watts´s last blog ..Gentiana glauca Alpine Flower
to melanie watts's comment
Here in NE Ohio we are in zone 5 (which means it can get down to -20). Here in my area of Ohio we have very sandy acidic soil with not much organic matter (which is hard on hydrangeas since they like their soil a little on the moist side).
We get snow, sometimes not much at all sometimes over a foot. Snow is actually good for plants because it acts as an insulator protecting them from the cold. So it would be better to get snow than just have a cold winter without snow.
We live on top of a big hill so we get a lot of wind here at Chiot’s Run. That’s one of the reasons I think my hydrangeas suffer.
We also have a huge deer population in our area of Ohio. Our property is bordered by land owned by our property owner’s association so there’s no hunting. This makes the deer quite a problem since there are so many of them there’s not enough food for them all. They eat anything edible in my garden, it makes it tough to have fruit trees and edible shrubs.
We currently have 4 deer that are bedding down about 40 ft behind our house in a thicket. They’ve hit the jackpot, tasty shrubs, garden plants, who wouldn’t want to eat from the gardens of Chiot’s Run:)
to Susy's comment
One of the things I most like about your blog is how you give insights into both food-based gardening and your shrubs/flowers, etc. I always learn something new about flowers – so many kinds of hydrangeas.
Mangochild´s last blog ..Spotlight: 2009-2010 Dark Days Week One
to Mangochild's comment