Hydrangeas overwinter pretty well in Pittsburgh. They come back with new shoots every spring, so this doesn't surprise me that yours came back. I love hydrangeas. I'm looking into buying a new variety called Endless Summer that are supposed to bloom all summer.

mine always come back up after winter each year... and in upper Michigan...if I am thinking hte right kind of plant lol....

good luck, sarah

MrsD,

I bet Brain's volunteer snapdragons are from last year's plants. I get those too with my snapdragons. I also have portulaca coming up and I haven't bought that in four years. :)

I just assumed it could never happen with wave petunias since it's such an expensive hybrid. :)

Those are pretty Holly, I hope they do well in your garden. :)

That's what the hydrangea I bought was..."Endless Summer"
There were no directions on the stick in the pot, just the name, so I was flying by the seat of my pants with it, and like I said, it was a sale pot.

I was surprised when it thrived through summer but the last thing I expected was to see it again this year! I'm going to transplant the sprouts along my "warm wall" where the sun shines most of the day and see what happens!

Some bushes sleep I think. We had a mock orange that died
and we just left it the way it was. (at least we thought it was dead)

And now years later (at least 6 yrs) it is sending up suckers!
This was after some construction work on wall it was near by the city last spring.

edit to add... we had left the dead Mock Orange where it was, since the cats like to rub on the bark...something in it attracts them?
Most of the little branches broke off anyway, and since it was on the city's easement, it was no big deal. But now I have a ton of suckers there mixed in with the resident day lilies. For now we will leave it be and see what happens.

So...I planted the sprouting plants along the warmest wall I have and mulched around them and protected them from the neverending, pounding rain we are having here. I weeded each week since my first post and even gave them a shot of manure tea. I nurtured them and watched them start to grow.

Then I decided to look online at a few links to see what others offered for growing tips and I found...


the plants I planted are weeds...
(insert falling down pounding the ground laughing here)

They are, without a doubt, the most sturdy, vigorous weeds I have ever planted.

Oh, my!

You are a brave soul to come on here and admit that! ;)

Sometimes there are "interesting" weeds.. I've used them myself.
Oxeye daisy is considered a "weed", for example.

But if yours were wild mustard, dandylions etc I can see that difference!

I have a hydrangea that I started from a slip from one in my mother-in-law's yard about 5 years ago. It outgrew the pot it was in and I repotted it this spring. The ants are just loving this plant; I think I might have aphids.

I read somewhere that they need about 6 hours of sun a day to flower, but also that they need to be on the northern side of the house. I don't know about anyone else's property, but the north side of my yard is in the shade all day lol.