Hi everyone!
This is my first garden-related question after nearly a year of lurking. :) I've enjoyed this website immensely!
I recently planted a hydrangea in my front yard. It's been doing quite well until the we started our heat wave last week. It's been in the high 80s to low 90s for several days. I've been giving it lots of water as I know they like to stay moist. (Plus it's near my astilbes which keep me busy!) I planted it in a sunny corner that gets intermittent shade throughout the day.
My worry is that perhaps I did not provide it enough shade and that I compounded the problem with planting it next to the hot aluminum siding.
The leaves are curling in and some are starting to discolor from a medium green to a soggy greenish-brown.
Should I move it? Or will it only react this way on our hottest days? I have scant places I could move it: along my partial (nearly full) shade porch or in partial sun in my backyard which gets a lot of afternoon sun.
I appreciate any help you can give me!
Karen
Leaves curling?
The plant is probably getting sun burned. The nursery keeps the plants in heavy shade. I would put some temporary shade over it. Plants are like people, they get used to the sun.
Good luck
Gary
I hesitate to offer information after one your fellow MI gardeners has given you good advice, but being an old gardener who deals with heat and humidity every day, here goes - I would think the Hydrangea is getting a huge dose of heat from the siding. Does the plant and that side of your home get afternoon shade? Down here, they like afternoon shade. They will droop in the afternoon down here, even if they are in shade; that is part of their habit. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are not getting enough moisture around their roots. Check the next morning, after the temperature has dropped. If they appear normal, they are o.k. I'm really going to go out on a narrow limb that can quickly break with my weight on it, but the nasty color of your plant's leaves can actually be a result of over watering. I'm just offering these things to consider. Without gloves, poke around the soil surrounding the plant. Is it dry? Is is just moist? Or is it soaked? I think the afternoon sun thing is really important, but I am driven by my own micro-climate. Hang in there.
Thank you for two wonderful answers!
We are expecting thunderstorms and the sky is already clouding up so I'll watch and wait. But beforehand I'll go and poke around because I do tend to be heavy-handed on the watering when I worry over a plant!
I am rarely home in the afternoon to see where the light is but my hunch is that we get quite a bit of light on that side of the house between 1-3.
We're expecting a week of patchy rain and mid to high 70's. If they're still curling, I suppose no matter what I need to move it? I'm sure my white aluminum siding makes that spot hotter than the ambient temp.
I am truly hoping Gary is right and my little bush just needs to get used to its new digs. *fingers crossed tightly*
Thanks again!!
Karen
I'm back!
The ground is damp, but not wet.
I also snapped a few pictures as the leaves are now brown and crunchy!
Another tidbit, something that has been bothering my husband but I thought was normal...
the stems started out nice and green and now are starting to grow burgandy dots. Some stems are still completely green while others are mottled with dots and others are completely spotted.
Could this be a problem or is this normal?
I looked in Michael Dirr's "Hydrangeas for American Gardens", and I don't see a disease that exhibits the symptoms of your plant, but I'm just an old guy. It may be adjusting to its location, but down here I would say it's getting too much heat. What do I know? You say you are in the 70's and we've been in the 90's for awhile. I'd listen to my fellow MI gardeners. Hope it gets better, but they do perform better with afternoon shade.
Thank you for taking the time to check. I really appreciate that.
We were supposed to cool off today but we had another day in the high 80's. The poor thing looked so pitiful that I am now looking for a place to relocate it. My heart can't take much more even if it could get used to it! I was going to pot it up for tonight but we got hit with some thunderstorms so I'll wait for tomorrow.
Thanks again!
I recently planted two new hydrangeas. They have been in the ground for about three weeks now. One gets a little more sun around 1 pm. It seems to be doing ok though. It will wilt down in late evening due to the heat but will perk right back up again by morning. I took two old umbrellas I have and made a shade for them until they get climatized. I have to put a brick on the end of the umbrella to hold it down so the wind won't blow it away but so far it has really helped protect the new plants.
Just a suggestion. ;)
Lin
Well, I waffled over it and after a good rainstorm and a tiny bit of cooling off, the plant seems to have calmed down. I trimmed off the really bad looking leaves and I think we'll let it sit there and try and acclimate. *fingers crossed tightly* I'll provide shade for it if it gets really hot again, but being Michigan we usually don't get too many 90 days until July. (Then again, all bets are off these days, it seems!)
I'm trying to think of what I would use as a shade since it's in the corner of my house which is only 1.5 ft from my very unfriendly neighbor's driveway. Hopefully I won't have to think too hard!