Hydrangeas May Still Bloom - Or Not

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - OK, since everybody keeps asking me, what is the matter with your hydrangeas? Are they all sticks?! Is there just a little green at the bottom in the middle like a head of lettuce? What is going on?

Well, like most other plants, those pink or blue hydrangeas are running late this year because of our long, cold winter. So just wait. If you see green at the bottom, you'll soon see it in more places as the plant leafs out.

Now, will they bloom? That depends. The newer reblooming pink and blue hydrangeas - like the popular 'Endless Summer' variety - should flower fine, because they bloom on new growth. I checked in with local woody plant expert Rick Ray, who says he actually cuts his 'Endless Summer' back every April and it blooms fine…in July.

But if you have the more old-fashioned versions of the bigleaf pink or blue hydrangeas, they might not bloom this year because of the cold winter. Those plants bloom on old wood, which means they made their flower buds last summer, and those buds may well have frozen this past winter. So, don't prune the old-fashioned kind. Let them leaf out and you can just enjoy the foliage while the plant spends the summer creating fresh flower buds that should bloom NEXT year…all depending upon what kind of winter we have.