Protecting hydrangeas from the westerly sun is a good idea. Paniculatas (large and later blooming hydrangeas) could take full sun and at the same time will provide shade for the smaller and earlier blooming macrophillas and serratas. Hydrangeas wouldn't mind to have an extra water, especially in a middle of the summer, but they are not a swamp plants and there shouldn't be big cultural differences between them and other 'normal' plants. I grow them with azaleas/rhododendrons, hollies, junipers, leucothoe, forsythias, cherry laurel, viburnums, conifers etc etc. As you can see all this a pretty wide spectrum of water preferences, but hydrangeas are happy in every location for as long as they well watered and established. Silvergold, some great combos you have there. I especially like V. trilobum + Limelight combo.

If the browning is steadily spreading around the plant, it's a fungal disease and the plant may be bare by August. However, it might restart from a retarded state next season (sans the disease). I think all of mine became diseased after 15" of rain in June last year, but this year there's no browning!

Was that cactus green at one point? Is it mushy? I just left my plants for six days, the temps were between 90-100 degrees during the day. I watered all my plants the day I left (watering until water came out of the drainage holes in the bottom of the pots) I didn't water them at all until the 6th day when I returned home, and I had no problems. My staghorn fern was a little wilted but bounced right back after being watered. My point is, one of the best things about succulents is they can handle some neglect every once in awhile. Unless I'm leaving for several weeks I don't let anyone touch my plants. The only instructions I left for the person who lives on my property was to not touch/water them. If your cactus isn't mushy than its probably a lighting issues. The other plants with the exception of that brown one in the long planter all look ok and if they looked different than when you left them they should bounce back. When in doubt don't water. I have a haworthia coarctata that will turn very dark green when exposed to a lot of light. Unless it's burned, the burn spots are obvious and white. It had gotten a burn spot when I first brought it home, the burn was on a lower leaf which I was able to cover with gravel but now it's hardly noticeable.

Hi everyone Emily - When I first started growing bromeliads (Tillandsias are also bromeliads despite what some people say). I was told by an elderly grower that if I looked at my plant's leaves, they would tell me what they required in the way of water. If the leaves were curling up at the edges, this meant that they needed more water. This was the plant's natural response and by doing this, the leaves were turned up so they were able to catch and hold more more water from rain or dew. If on the other hand the outside of the leaves were turned down, it prevented them trapping water and allowed it to run off immediately, thus preventing overwatering. In summary, if the leaves are turned down at the edges the plant has sufficient or too much water and if they are turned up they are too dry and require more water. I have always followed this rule when deciding when to water and it works well for me as an indicator. Finally, it's always worth remembering that more plants (of any type) are killed by too much water rather then too little; if you can't decide if the plant needs watering or not, put it off for another day or two rather than risk overwatering.. All the best, Nev.