Hey Russ. Glad to know that vague is ok too, LOL. I got scared after your post about tracking and synchronizing the first bloom dates for all your dahlia varieties. I'm more from the school of "plant it and if it grows, do it again next year, if it dies, put something else in that spot". So we'll see how my dahlias do, they are getting BIG, and I inspected them with a flashlight tonight, and I think I see a bud. :) JOY. My best plant success so far is with the stuff that the neighbors are yanking out of the ground cursing, and ask me, "are you SURE you want to take those? you can't KILL these things!". I figure if others can't kill it if they try, I have a shot at keeping it alive, and it was a really nice thing when we first bought this house and had no money in the budget for trips to the garden center. In my neighborhood, my garden is kind of known as the freebie garden. I have all kinds of ferns, elephant ears, cannas, cast iron plant, mexican petunias, oleanders, and several other things that neighbors donated while trying to eliminate the from their yards. So I worry about giving advice to others who actually have a method of any kind when I'm so fly by the seat of my pants...Dahlias are the first plant that I've nurtured and watched every day and they are the reason I found the gardening forum! BOY am I learning a lot from all of you!

That's very strange, Ellie. I'm not sure what caused it, but over-watering usually results in rot, not a dried out end like that. And it's kinda hard to over-water seedlings in summer since they have such good root systems. Is it possible the seedling trunks got sunburned at the soil line? That would cause that hard, caved-in area; I've had it happen a few times in the heat of summer. You could try with one of those seedlings just lightly scoring the bark above the dried up area with a razor blade, just enough to encourage new roots to come out from the very shallow cuts. The roots come from the cambium layer, just under the bark layer. Couldn't hurt to try it at this point. Good luck!

First, let's start with the same suggestion that virtually every new poster to GW will engender - include your location and/or climate zone with every post OR change your profile to reflect it. You will get much faster and more complete answers that are appropriate to your specific location, if we know what it is. Second, with any plantings, you can't water to a specific schedule. The frequency of the need to water is dependent on soil conditions, siting and weather. When you do water you want to water thoroughly, so the water can percolate down through the soil profile the full depth of the rootball. Third, the hydrangeas appear to be planted in amongst a bunch of weeds or weedy grass. Why are they not in clear planting beds? Lawns, weed grasses and weeds can easily outcompete young, newly planted plants for both soil moisture and nutrients, delaying proper establishment. A defined, clear planting area surrounding the plants (or a single planting bed that contains them all) that is kept free of weeds and grass is preferred. And this should be mulched, both to keep any weeds down and to insulate the soil and prevent evaporation. The leaves of the plants don't look too bad - a little off color and a few showing scorched tips - but overall they look as though the plants are receiving adequate water. The browned or withered flowers are just flowers that have passed their prime. They can be removed to improve the plants' appearance. Depending on the type of hydrangeas they are (another useful piece of info we lack), they may not produce any more flowers this season. Hydrangea macrophyllas that bloom on old wood (the vast majority of them) create flower buds in late summer or fall of the previous year. Once those buds have bloomed, that's it for the year. Reblooming macs (those that bloom on both old and new growth) can generate additional flower buds in season but young, new plants like these are not so much inclined to do so until fully established. The offcolor of the foliage and the faded flowers could indicate these plants are receiving a bit more sun than they'd prefer. This is not a deal breaker but something to be aware of and to work to offset. Or you could relocate these plants in fall to a shadier location (morning sun only) and plant more sun tolerant panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata cultivars) in their place.

You'll need to find a larger size of perlite (not rocks). I buy size 2 at the organic gardening/hydroponic store here in town. The size two seems big at first but breaks into smaller pieces very easily (dont break it apart on purpose though, you want it in bigger pieces.) Be sure to sift and rinse it, otherwise the dust on it can gather at the bottom of your pot and create a swamp that stays soggy, like sand does. I would like to warn you against purchasing the Miracle Grow brand of perlite. It's like they used all the good pieces and bagged up all the fines to pass off as perlite. It just turns into a mushy, soggy mess unless you sift it and then you can only use ~1/8 of the bag as the rest are fine particles and unusable. Total rip off. As Russ said, you'll need at least 50% of the mix to be perlite (you can use perlite mixed with chicken grit [crushed granite] to make up this half of the mix but the grit can get very heavy if it's a large container) combined with 50% or less of the cacti and succulent mix you buy, if it's based on peat (sphagnum peat or coco peat, which is what most people think of when they think of potting soil, very small organic materials). Little jab: and I thought my pictures were bad! If you're using a phone, you should be able to click on the item you want it to focus on and it'll focus for you.