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A friend of mine gave me a rooting of hydrangea a few months ago. After it had established itself, I moved it from the container to a row of plants I have along my fence. Well, my hubby, love him, mistook it for a weed and weedwhacked it. His logic? "It didn't look like anything else you had growing over there". Now I am afraid that with the plant being so young, it won't come back. Any hope??

Hard to say but since the roots were unaffected, there is a good chance it will recover, albeit not quickly. This would be the same thing as if the shrub had been hit by a late frost that killed the leaves or even the stems... in several weeks or a month or so, the shrub would generate new growth from stems and or from the base. As far as whether your husband can come back close to the hydrangea, hmmm, maybe not? Hee hee hee! ;o)

I would also not go heavy on fertilizing but adding some alfalfa or alfalfa meal might be nice. Alfalfa is often synonymous with the plant growth hormone tricontanol, considered the most or one of the most powerful plant growth promoter, and alfalfa contains copious amounts. So using it might help speed the recovery.

Can't say for sure but I think it will, they are quite tough plants. You won't get any flowers for a while.

Here is a short blog post that I wrote on the subject
https://simonjarvis.co.uk/2020/03/15/hydrangea/