ASK MONTY

QMy hydrangea bush began to grow leaves this spring but we had a dip of -4°C and they were frostbitten. I left them and they look bad, but will I get flowers? D Edmiston, Glasgow

AExactly the same happened to my hydrangeas. They look terrible but the damage is only superficial. Cut back to healthy buds once all risk of frost has passed and you should get perfectly good flowers – albeit on a smaller shrub.

QMy 20-year-old Clematis montana

looks amazing every spring. But this year frost blackened all the early shoots. Do I just leave it and hope it will come again next year?

Irene Bradley, Berkshire

ANow is the perfect time to prune Clematis montana – you only need do so to tidy or restrict its growth. The plant will recover from its brush with frost so tidy it if needed, otherwise leave it.

QWhy have some of my potted tulips grown flopped over instead of straight?

Mrs Driver, West Yorkshire

ASome tulips have longer stems and those that flowered earlier – with long stems – were subject to a very dry spring and hard frosts. They grew less steadily and more weakly than usual so rain and wind damaged them. This made a lot of our tulips flop.

Write to Monty Don at Weekend, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email monty.don@dailymail.co.uk. Please include your full name and address. We regret Monty can’t reply to letters personally.