Have you had rain lately? It might need a drink.

Please don't cut the old flowers off - leave them until the spring as winter protection for the developing shoots. Then you can dead-head and cut back to a pair of healthy shoots on each stem. They are evergreen, by the way, well, most varieties are, anyway! :-)

Thanks Spritz. I thought they were evergreen. We had heavy rain earlier in the week but maybe they do need another drink, i'll pop out again shortly. And i wont touch the flower heads until spring :0)

Um, Spritz, did you mean to say that most varieties of Hydrangea are evergreen? Of most hydrangeas commonly grown in this country, its the climbers that remain evergreen, the vast majority being deciduous - and I'm sure you know that, so I'm assuming a slip of the gears?

Ooops! Sorry - just came in with H. and didn't put my brain in gear before I typed.

Tilly - I'm so sorry -my answer came out all wrong. I hang my head in shame. :-(((((((

Funny things Hydrangeas. In a mild county in mild winters they keep their leaves, elsewhere they lose them. Now here we cannot grow the H. macrophylla types at all. We get a vicious wind in April which often wipes out theoverwintered growth, which is where the flowers are. No stems, no flowers. We grow the H. paniculata types, which are definitely deciduous and are pruned in February down to the ground as they flower on new wood, not the stuff grown last Summer.
None flowering of H. macrophylla is usually down to loss of the buds in winter or early spring.

No - one's perfect, Spritz, don't be ashamed, it happens - I gave incorrect advice this morning, funnily enough on Hydrangea, and fortunately, Owdboggy corrected me...

i dont remember being in your garden tilly lol x .

so much for me thinking they were evergreen as well then!. At least now i know why they look so sad. Thanks to you all for your comments.

Tilly, I am really confused myself, now, because I have a hydrangea in a sheltered corner, and as we're in a mild area, it DOES keep its leaves!

I note that you're not in a mild area, though, so yours will drop their leaves.....so sorry for all this confusion. :-((

Dats warr I sed!

sorry about the sense of humer lol

Yes, Ob. I read your comment, for which many thanks, and it made me think about my hydrangeas..... sorry, I should have added that before. :-(

lol