hey farmerboybill .... thank you for the insight ... i was wondering about those yellow leaves being a harbinger of *not good news* ... i have not gardened for, at least, eight years and have forgotten a lot, as well, my zone/location has changed ... anyway, the yellowing leaves could be from over-watering ... sometimes the tops of the potatoes droop from the heat and the first thing i want to do is: water .... water .... water ... and, i do! in the past couple of days, i've *strawed* the garden in the hope of keeping some of the moisture in the ground, so we shall see ... i live in the desert of washington state and it hardly rains in the summer ... lots of t-storms, but not so much actual rain ...... the potatoes are kinda newly planted ... we did not put the garden in until around 12 june, so they are almost ready to flower (checked at 7 this morning and still just buds) ... it's going to be hot today so they may just bloom ... again, thank you for your help ... darlene

I am new to gardening, but have a background in turf. I planted 3 twist and shout hydrangeas this spring and they are doing somewhat well, I just noticed that some on the leaves are fading to purple from the middle of the leaf to the end. It's not everywhere, just some here and there. I also noticed that this is happing on stems that are beginning to produce flowers. Also inside the plant some leaves are turning yellow-white (the vein also) and will fall off to the touch. This is happening to my Tardiva's and my limelight as well. Is this normal. I have noticed that jap beetles or some incsect have been chewing on the leaves last week, but I sprayed imidacloprid and cyfluthrin twice, 7 days apart. They get late morning sun to filterd evening sun. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Kate, "They are native plants from the southwest that like good drainage/rocky soil. Their first set of real leaves are turning a bit yellowish & I am concerned... I used sterilized peat moss & vermiculite to plant them in." Both peat moss and vermiculite are water retentive -- the very opposite of good drainage. These seedlings may be drowning. Also, how strong was that hydrogen peroxide you watered them with? You may have burned the root hairs right off of them. Normally perlite is added to peat moss to increase the drainage. The perlite retains air, which is the very opposite of vermiculite, which retains water. Vermiculite in a fairly fine form is best used on the surface of a seed-starting medium to keep moisture there to aid germination. Mixing it into peat moss is a questionable practice. Most professional growing media based on peat moss have some nutrients added, including a significant amount calcium, which is absent from most soluble fertilizers. If your media does contain just peat moss and vermiculite, it is both sterile and devoid of nutrients. You should water with a one-half strength complete liquid fertilizer that contains a complete complement of trace elements. Since your growing media is sterile, it doesn't contain the usual population of soil bacteria and other organisms, so you should not use a formula that contains any urea. Unlike in garden soil, the urea won't be converted to nitrates and it will just build up to potentially toxic levels. Also, the ammonia form of nitrogen is bad for some plants, such as pansies and -- who knows -- maybe your Oenothera. So, ideally, your soluble fertilizer should contain nitrogen only in the nitrate form. "Maybe I need to put them in a sandy mixture??" I would try that. And weak soluble nutrients. With sand you are essentially using a form of hydroponics, so a hydroponics supply house would be a place to look for suitable nutrient formulations. Since your plants need both phosphate ions and calcium ions and since calcium phosphate is relatively insoluble, you need to alternate feedings of calcium nitrate and a soluble formula containing everything else including the soluble phosphates. I don't know of a formula that uses chelated calcium (although there may be such a thing) so, as far as I know, no single soluble nutrient formulation is adequate for your sterile growing medium. When it is said that a native plant prefers lean, nutrient poor soil, that usually means low nitrogen and good drainage, but not no nutrients at all. Including trace elements, all plants need a minimal amount of over 15 different elements, and many element pairs need to appear in a ratio to each other that falls within a particular range, so excesses can be as harmful as shortages. MM

~~~ Explain thermal protection? ~~~ A piece of rigid foam insulation might help if the gravel or concrete is getting too hot and cooking the roots. By watering the one pot twice daily you are cooling it much more than the others. The plants own respiration may be helping with that as well. You're stuck. Without the plant using the water, you're at high risk of over watering but without being able to water more frequently, you appear to be making tomato root stew. Not a happy situation to be in. The one with the tomato looks especially sorry and I'm wondering whats holding it erect. Except as an experimental to figure how to prevent this in the future, I'm doubtful of that plants value.