Where are you located? If it is further south, your Incredi-balls may need some shade later in the day. It would help if you could show a picture of the "brown" blooms, but right off hand, to me (because I have lots of HOT sun), that means they are getting burned--too much sun and too little water. Hydrangeas in general are waterhogs--it might work better to water them 2 or 3 times a week if they are suffering from too much hot sun. And I'd quit feeding them. I never feed my hydrangea, and if my understanding is correct, hydrangeas should not be fed anything but compost--in fact, fertilizer can interfere with the normal growth/blooming of a hydrangea. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I've always understood. Certainly, my Annabelle (the earlier version of that hydrangea) has never needed any help blooming, although it accumulates plenty of autumn leaves falling around it by winter. My Annabelle also got burned blooms when the tree casting part shade on it had to be taken down. The other thing to keep in mind is that many plants take several years before settling in and maturing enough to do their thing, so its blooming patterns may straighten out in another year or two all on its own. I haven't grown Incredi-ball, so I'm making some (hopefully) educated guesses based on the behavior of its earlier relative Annabelle. That may or may not apply in your case, but I think you should consider whether your hydrangea is getting too much hot sun and sunburning as a result. Kate

Neem breaks down in a couple days. The copper is kind of toxic to everything living. Bayer fungicide kills frogs. If birds eat the frogs it will kill the bird too. The bayer will work but will kill your soil . If your soil is killed you need synthetic fertilizer. I like Jjpeace post about as little chemicals as possible and shovel pruning. If the leaves are wet longer than 6 hours the spores can do the damage. Ohio State horticultural dept says the spores can come from the mulch onto roses. Try using a mulch recommended by the Ohio state University mulch study. There are other mulches better than wood bark . Ohio is close to you. They have done a study on diseases on roses and the wood mulch. Feed your soil. I put down a few inches of yard waste compost. I mulched with shredded leaves the past few years. Half the plant is above ground. It is important to consider the below ground half of the plant also. The soil is 50% solid and the other half is air and water where organisms live that control the ecosystem. Half of the plants are for you.(The Roses). The other half of the plants should be for the soil. (Legumes vetches clovers is ok). Healthy soil and health roots would give you a healthy plant. It is better to grow a healthy plant. I grow soil. Soil grows plants. This forum used to be full of gardeners who used the Lasagna sheet mulch method.

Three possibilities come to mind; one is weather related (frost damage) and the others are leaf spot infections. I would have the leaves tested for issues like powdery mildew (PM), bacterial leaf spot and anthracnose at a local Agric Extension Service or local university. PM is common in the Fall and in the Spring but, I have a problem with that possibility... the PM blotches are usually purple-ish with some grayish areas, not brown as in your pictures. So they do not match. At this time of the year (any time in Spring), I would expect to see frost damage and then PM issues first. But since this is a problem that started in the Fall and was not treated then, it might be anthracnose or bacterial leaf spot. Bacterial leaf spot would be my guess but is not common so it is a little rare to see someone with infected shrubs. Here is info on bacterial leaf spot: http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/bacterial_leaf_spot_on_hydrangea I considered frost damage but the lesions look too dark to be damage from late frosts; frost damage would look dark green, at least at first. Besides, you did not mention having frosts now and last year. You can confirm frost damage by pruning some leaves and observing if the replacements still have this problem or not, Probably do it somewhere that is not noticeable. Proper identification of the fungal infection is important because spraying will only work on those diseases for which the spray was developed. For example, a mix of water and milk can help with PM. For anthracnose, apply anti-fungals whose active ingredient is: azoxystrobin (Heritage), copper (Python; Camelot), chlorothalonil (Daconil), chlorothalonil + fenarimol (Twosome), potassium bicarbonate (Remedy), myclobutanil (Systhane), copper + mancozeb (Junction) or mancozeb (Dithane). Other than removing infected leaves or plants, I am not aware of treatments for bacterial leaf spot. By the way, since you cut off those leaves in the pictures this year, can you observe if 2nd generation leaf replacements also develop this problem? Regarding fungal diseases in general, try watering the soil and never the leaves; water always very early in the mornings; if you have any plant debris, pick it up and dispose of it in the trash (when you have fungal issues) or in the compost pile (if you do not have fungal issues). If the area is always humid, try reducing the amount of water by a sliver to make it harder for the spores to have a good time.. But again, I stress taking leaf samples for analysis. And see if you have time to read the articles and give us your input on what best seems to be the issue since you have been with these affected shrubs for a while.

Mike, It's not that bad, IMHO! Looks really nice, aside from the black spot. First, pick off all the diseased leaves only, and discard them in your household trash. Then plant the rose and water it in good. Don't get the foliage wet. Now spray it with a fungicide. Do the roses around it, too. Immunox or Bayer work very well. Follow up on a good schedule thereafter, very important. You may see disease free leaves show a little black spotting over the next few days, even after spraying your rose. Don't get puzzled. They will not progress any further. They were getting ready to show up next, and the spray caught them in mid stream. The black spots we see are the reproductive parts (blossoms, so to say), of the black spot fungus plants. Yes, they are plants, quite different from roses, but still plants. Enjoy your new rose. Is it fragrant? BTW, I believe Moonlight is a yellow rose? Moses