We have some hydrangeas that maybe have 1 or 2 flowers every year. I determined that this might be because we are on the northern edge of their growing range and they need to be protected over the winter. Last fall I used every leaf from our yard (and that still wasn’t enough) to surround the 3 plants to protect them over winter. Of course that means come spring the process needs to be reversed. So late April I took that job on. Here you can see in the background behind our failed well pump hanging from the crane truck an example of a winter protected hydrangea
So I removed the chicken wire and had to remove the leaves, by hand, carefully so as not to ruin the buds on the plant canes. Canes being the operative word. These are like bamboo sticks that stick up and are very close together making it necessary to try to reach down in 2 to 3 feet to get the leaves out. There are pointy ends . After completing this and cleaning up the leaves (even if this works I don’t think I’ll be doing this again because normally the leaves blow into the neighbors yard and I don’t have to clean them up) I looked down to discover I had been seriously injured by the hydrangeas protecting them from the harsh winter.
Let the Bobby Fuller Four sing a song about that.