An umbrella or shade of some sort may be good for the first season. However, are these florist hydrangeas?

Just because they are planted relatively closely, that doesn't mean the soil is exactly the same in both spots. One area may drain faster/better than the other. What is your current soil like and did you amend the planting hole before planting?

The root system of the one on the right probably cannot uptake as much soil moisture as the one on the left so it wilts. More shade might help. But if that is the case, it should be ok and stop wilting at night or by the next morning.

As it gets more established, it will do this less but, now that you know it wilts more often than the other, keep a close watch on it during its first summer. Add mulch to maintain the soil moist longer too.

Do keep a watchful eye on the soil moisture from another perspective: too much soil wetness for long periods can trigger root rot and that fungal disease will make the shrub wilt 24/7 and eventually die... Hopefully your soil amendment will make the water in the soil drain off.

Is your soil naturally clay? Often amending the planting hole with a clay based soil will just create a bucket effect of overly wet soil that does not drain quickly enough. As stated previously, this will lead to root rots. And I would not put a lot of faith in your moisture meter - they are known to be quite inaccurate for the most part. Best to test soil moisture by touch.

Ok. So we may have our answer here. This afternoon when that part of the garden had been in the shade for a few hours the plant was perky again. So what now? lol A tiny umbrella? Will it always be this wimpy?

Will it always be this wimpy? No - it just needs to grow more roots. I often use a lawn chair to provide dappled shade to newly planted shrubs and perennials.

It is called transplant shock. All plants have this "wimpy phase" when you take them from the nursery or wholesaler into your garden. This is what hydrangeas do during the hot months, especially in Year 1 so I think you are fine. Over here, they always do it sporadically during the summer but, who wouldn't when you get daily temps in the 100s for more than a month. :o)

Where are you located?

If the plant perks back up on its own on a daily basis (e.g. every morning), it's fine. Nothing to worry about. With maturity this will happen less but high 80s and sun will make almost any hydrangea droop during the day. It's when the plant continually droops when you have real issues.

I would put the umbrella to cover it some more. Your location is bright so it would be ok to place it bright shade all the time for a few weeks and then start the process of giving it (only) morning sun in short increments... If it complains, leave the umbrella "on" thru the whole summer. Once the root system has gotten bigger, wilting should diminish and only happen when temps are really high.

Higher/Summer temps and a stronger summer sun make the large leaves loose moisture faster than it can replace it by absorbing water thru the roots. Lack of mulch can also make the soil loose moisture thru evaporation. But again, as long as the plant has the umbrella "on" and the leaves fix themselves on their own by night or morning, the shrub should be ok.

From the looks of it, one hydrangea is in the shade and the other is in the sun. I could be wrong but the one in the sun also looks stunted compared to the other... possibly from the stress. Some hydrangeas tolerate morning sun only because it's cooler but not afternoon sun because it's hotter. I had the same issue with my "Glowing Embers" hydrangeas; wilting in the afternoon sun. I ran a soaker hose to my hydrangea bed and set a timer to water them twice a day. Problem solved. The second watering is when the hydrangeas are exposed to afternoon sun. Now, when I buy hydrangeas, I make sure the kind I get can tolerate more sunlight, especially here in Oklahoma. While the umbrella is a good idea, how do you get to enjoy the beauty of these flowers with a big ugly umbrella in front of them. Here is what I would do; move the hydrangea to a location that gets afternoon shade and replace it with a hydrangea that tolerates more sun. I bought "Let's Dance Moonlight" which is a full sun, part sun plant. Lastly, you could deep water your plant in the evening during its afternoon sun exposure.

I forgot to ask; what kind of hydrangeas are these? Some don't tolerate any sunlight.

Asking a plant that is in full leaf AND bloom to take immediately, is really a bit too demanding on the plant.

It may be the type to be planted outside (if you think about it actually - all plants are!) but it's important to acclimatise them.

For my part, I personally would have potted it on into a bigger pot, and kept it in the shade, or even in a bright, well-lit room, until the following spring.

This isn't intended as a criticism, so I hope I have caused no offence; but it makes me cross when some retailers have plants that make you believe you'll have a ready-made instant garden.... All plants need a bit of TLC, but those sold as if they're ready-made, are often forced under artificial conditions, and grown big and lush for the 'wow' factor.

you do realise the flowers won't stay blue? They need a special food to keep that colour going, or else they revert to their normal pink...

" the flowers won't stay blue"

Flower color is soil dependent on big-leaf hydrangeas, a combination of soil pH and the availablility of aluminum in the soil. Here all H. macrophyllas are blue since my soil is acid and appears to have some aluminum. If your pH is alkaline, or you are missing aluminum, they will be pink.

I plant directly out into the garden but as I said above, I give new plantings that appear to be under stress some shade. In my area they acclimatize fairly quickly as long as I don't try to plant them in really hot weather.

That's a hydrangea macrophylla obviously.

Some folks including the OP are overthinking... New plantings, especially ones toward late May will almost always wilt daily as long as the sun's mostly out. As long as the plant has recovered *come daybreak the next day*, there is almost nothing to worry about.

That bejng said, cutting off blooms to focus on growth in year 1 isn't the worst idea - it does help.

so I think I'm going to keep an umbrella on that one this summer during the afternoon to help it along. maybe trim some flowers off here and there to help focus on roots.

these flowers weren't blooming when I bought them so I added something to make soil more acidic and that's why flowers popped up blue.

next year ear will I need to put same acidifier around them on ground (I sprinkled in the hole whem I planted them)? do I need to make soil acidic each year for blue flowers?

Yes. Just as any plant really needs food if it's in the same pot - or location - for a prolonged period of time, if your soil isn't at the correct ph level, this will need doing every year.

Indeed, you need to amend the soil as recommended by the label of the product that you are using. The "acidifying changes" resulting from these products take a while to occur, many weeks.... although the liquid amendments take less but still a few weeks. Another reason to continue: the soil has a tendency to slowly revert back to its original alkalinity or acidity if you stop.

This is why I tended to keep my Hydrangeas in pots.... you can dot them around the garden into appropriate locations and they provide excellent "instant border fillers". You can do this with any plant. Just ensure you place them in the appropriate location for their care....

midorit said: "so I think I'm going to keep an umbrella on that one this summer during the afternoon to help it along. maybe trim some flowers off here and there to help focus on roots."

Remember which stems have flowers on, because when you cut a Hydrangea back, you should not cut back the shoots that had no flowers; these will flower the following year. (They're known as 'old wood') When I worked at a garden centre, the biggest question we had from customers

was "Why hasn't my hydrangea flowered for XX years? I cut it back every year, and it gets lots of foliage, but no flowers!" It was invariably, always, because in cutting it back, they would also remove all the shoots (old wood) that were going to flower!

"The most common hydrangea purchased is the Bigleaf hydrangea. It is also a common hydrangea for people to ask, “Why aren't my hydrangeas blooming?” This particular species of hydrangea is called Hydrangea macrophilia and they get blue or pink flowers on them. However, they produce a lot of cultivars and these cultivars can die back to the base of the ground in the winter, particularly if you have had a colder than normal winter. Since these hydrangeas bloom on old wood, [last year's new shoots] this creates a problem. If the old wood dies back to the ground, your hydrangea won’t bloom when it grows back the following year. This is because it’s growing new wood and the new wood doesn’t produce flowers on this particular variety."

Read more at Gardening Know How: Reasons And Fixes For A Hydrangea Not Blooming http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/hydrangea/hydrangea-not-blooming.htm