I hope that you gardening experts can tell me if I did the right thing!
We went to Mexico last week. In my absence my neighbor agreed to water my newly planted landscape for me. (YAY!)
However when I return I find a fried array of bedding plants. (sob)
Apparently she watered often so she says, but we had 4 days of plus 30 weather and they just didn't make it?
The worst of all of my survivors (because a few didn't survive at all) was my Pee Gee hydrangea which was doing so well and was developping many blooms even though it had only been in the ground for about 3 weeks.
So most of it fried. I trimmed it back and it really only left a few stems that could be salvaged. I decided that since it was headed in the right direction I trained it to a tree and staked it.
Now I read that you shouldn't trim a hydrangea during it's blooming period. Why? Does anybody know? Is it only because it won't get blooms now during the blooming season or is it because I've done something terminal to my PG baby!
I really loved this bush. The limelight and little lamb are okay.
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Don't cry..if the roots are okay for the most part..it will survive nicely.
The 'root rule' stands for anything else as well, so don't be too quick
to toss things out.
It sounds as though your neighbor watered overhead instead of just
going for a slow drip hose (if you have one) or putting a sock on the end
of a hose and turning the water on slowly...moving it around every 20
minutes or so.
The overhead watering would explain the 'burn', especially if she/he
watered during the day instead of at night (or 6 am)...
In Kamloops, for instance, where the summers are excruciatingly hot
and dry, the best gardeners are called "Midnight Gardeners" -out there
after the sun's gone down (waay down), really soaking the soil.
glgl with all your plants!!
What looks dead, isnt always dead. I have been amazed at some plants in my garden that have shot up the following spring, and I thought they were a gonna.
Your hydrangea will recover next spring. I don't see why pruning the flowers will do any harm, it only diverts the energy to the rest of the plant (which it needs now), and not waste it on the blooms. It might not flower next year, but at least it will recover.
The other dead things, before pulling out, scratch the stem of the plant, if it is green it is alive, if it is dried and woody it is gone. But having said that, the roots might be ok still, so wait until next spring.
Hi Murano...Hydrangeas are pretty hardy so your peegee should come back.....I pruned mine back alot a couple of yrs. ago & thought I would have to dig it up because it looked pretty bad,but it made a comeback & now has alot of new blooms on it...GOOD LUCK with yours :)