Hi Tricia – that is such a great question and I wish I would have thought about that when I wrote this post. 🙂 Thank you for reaching out to ask. Truthfully, I had not considered this when I decided to lift my hydrangeas at the time as I was so focused on the water issue, but when I thought about this after reading your comment I believe what has worked so well for me is that these beds end up being covered quite well with snow. I have not seen any negative signs from my plants come spring, and they are still thriving outside today.

Alternatively I think if you can place your beds next to a shed/house something taller that can help block colder winds it could also help. Something else to consider, is how hardy the plant is. The Bobo Hydrangeas I have are hardy to zone 3. I’m supposedly in a zone 5 now, but I’m always trying to buy my plants in zones 4 or 3 still, if possible. I know I’m sharing a lot, but another thing to remember to do, with all of your landscape even, is make sure to give them a good water before the ground freezes. Don’t overwater, but enough to saturate the dirt surrounding them, as this will provide the roots additional warmth before they go dormant. I like to refer to the trees/shrubs that the city place in those large pots, which always made me question how they survive but they do here in our state so I believe if the plant is plenty hardy it should handle our cold winters. I really hope this helps and if you decide to move forward with it, I hope you have as much success as I have had!