I'll be interested in seeing the responses to your question, Oakley. I just noticed the other day that my hibiscus, which is planted in a large container surrounded by an insane sweet potato vine, has gone from brilliant deep orange to an almost transparent, very light peach color! What happened? It's getting full sun, and otherwise looks very healthy, full of buds. Weird!

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! My Hibiscus are doing great, but about a third of the flowers in my bed which require a good 8 hours sun are fading in color.

I'm wondering if it's the early heat we're having? You're in the state below me, and we're having extremely hot temps for this time of the year. Are you experiencing the same thing?

Just curious, could this have to do with cross pollination? Are we inadvertently creating new species where we can make millions? lol.

I'm bumping this up because I can't find anything on the web about this problem.

If your periwinkles are reseeders, or even newly planted, some may be lighter than others, same with petunias. It has to do with hybridization.

Roses will fade in the heat and sun. Daylilies are even worse. By noon, my 'purple' daylilies in full sun are an ugly tan, and look as if they are bleeding.

Sometimes trace element deficiencies will cause blossoms to look odd.

I think you answered your own question about spraying liquid fertilizer, but be aware that liquid fertilizer should not be applied to plants that need watering. Water first, then fertilize.

Look up the origins of your plants. If they come from South Africa, for instance, they'll be thriving. Those from mountainous areas may croak in the sun, no matter what the plant tag said.

Nell

Thanks Nell. I didn't know about not spraying the plants if they need watering.

I think one of my biggest problems is that I am over watering the plants.

The light pink Petuias are the one's turning white, although still pretty, but I just noticed the plant itself is turning a light green & not getting bushy, actually it looks thinner. Does that sound like over watering to you?

See, I don't get it. EVERYONE in OK. can grow Petunias except me!! lol. Why is that? I've planted them in different spots in the yard and they just peter out. The soil seems good. No clue. It must be the over watering. I have mulch on everything and because of the heat I had been watering every day.

As long as my roses don't die, then I'll be fine. lol. Everything else seems to be doing fine.

Do you recommend Miracle Gro? Also, should I put Miracle Gro on Roses even though I feed the Roses with their own food..which seems to make them grow.

Oakley, Oakley, should you give your dog some of the cat's food even though you give him a balanced dog food?

When your petunias get leggy, do you prune them back about a third?

Daily watering isn't necessary except for some container plants in the hottest weather. Once or twice a week deep watering is much better than a daily dribble. You can get an inexpensive little meter at Walmart or the nursery to stick in the dirt that will show if the soil is dry if sticking your finger in there doesn't tell you. I use one in the GH in the winter to check little pots.

I don't recommend any particular brand of fertilizer. Mama swore by Peter's Special and Fish Emulsion. At my place, any fertilizer is better than no fertilizer as long as you don't overdo it, and that is if you don't have rich compost and good soil.

Nell

Oakley, first off, are your petunias store bought or are you starting them from seed? It does matter. Lots of greenhouses for big box stores artificially limit the growth of plants, especially petunias, so they can grow more in smaller spaces. I've found those plants rarely perform as well as those I grow from seed. Check out wintersowing next spring. Petunias can be sown about a month before you last frost. I even had some blooming this year using a small hoophouse/coldframe before the last frost. I sowed mine in early March with an Apr 15 frost free day. Just protect them from direct frosts and they'll be okay unless it's in the 20s.

Last year I grew a couple of trailing petunias from seed by sitting them outside every morning and bringing them in at night until the chance of frost was gone.

Fertilizer will do little if the growth regulator is still in the soil. My wintersown petunias are huge compared to all the store purchased ones. Give seeds a try.

I wrote a whole essay on why we in the south don't garden the way the PNW does (I shouldn't even LOOK at Annette and Libby's photos!) just for you, Oakley, but but had a moment of confusion and directed it toward Bluesunflower, whose pics I shouldn't look at, either.

Anyway, it scrolled right on off the first page, but you can find it Here

Today I noticed when I went outside for about 3 minutes to drag hoses around in the searing heat, that the Peace roses have rebloomed. Buds and flowers that are gorgeous pale yellow with dark pink edges in April, are blooming pure white with an insipid pink edge. Blame the heat if your soil isn't deficient.

Nell

I don't do store bought petunias anymore. I started with some re-seeding types from Select Seeds several years ago and I have petunias galore! They are in shades of deep purple, lavender, pinks to whites. Once in a while I get a broken color, but they seem to be gone this year. They get very long and I should start pinching, but probably won't get around to it.

If I want to start some in other places, I just dig up a clump of seedlings and move them.

This kind works better for me than the fancy hybrids the stores love to sell!

This miserable heat we are having in southwest Missouri is hurting everything! My red daylilies in particular start out such a gorgeous color but are very unattractive by afternoon. The weatherman said we are having July heat now!
Wonder what July will be like?

We who live in different zones have to realize that our gardens are a whole different species from each other.
We have to adapt our methods to our regions to get the best results and sometimes those results are less than what we would like.

Such is life.

glenda

Petunias, I haven't been able to grow them either :) I hear though that even in OK the "wave" petunias are supposed to do well. My bet is, they will do well in the spring and fall and not necessarily in the high heat months.

Roses: I'm not big on using synthetic fertilizers, I use a lot of organic ones: Rose Tone, alfalfa, compost. However, if you have hybrid tea roses (which is what most people have), I selectively use the Bayer 3 in 1 (all in one?) liquid fertilizer on just those plants. It will help with the blackspot and feed the roses. I didn't use it this spring and my roses look like sticks at the moment. So, I watered them very, very well on Friday and then fed them this weekend.

I do have a few antique roses and they seem very blackspot resistant...hallelujah!!!

I'm linking to a saved copy of Pappu's alfalfa thread in the rose forum. It's pretty funny if you have a chance to read it.

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Pappu's Alfalfa tea

I know this horrid heat is really stunting everything. I finally went to a nursery this morning and got some Miracle Gro, which everyone here in OK. (well, those I know, lol) swear by, so I'm going to see if it helps.

I didn't leave empty handed though! I got some Coneflowers and Moonbeam Coreopsis...my they're beautiful!

All I can do at this point since this is a new flowerbed is experiment, experiment and experiment!

Yes, my Petunias are store bought. The Wave came from a garden center though, and it's doing good but not growing too much.

None of the Petunias are big enough to cut back though.