Heat stress.

Thanks, guyground! How do I fix this? These are in part sun, so they're not getting hammered with sunlight all day long. We're expecting mid-nineties this week. I can water more, but they haven't given me any indication that they've needed more water than I've been providing (no drooping heads like my Annabelles will display if I neglect them for a day). This summer has been HOT. Am I to expect this from my other two MMs? What can I do?

Several weeks is not enough time for these plants to have settled in to their new environment. So you are looking a some prolonged transplant shock due to the hot weather (midsummer is really NOT the time to plant anything new). You will just need to monitor their water needs closely. And providing some temporary shade when they are in more sun will help as well.

Mulch at base 2-3 inches if not done already. Water deeply now, preferably with a hose so you can give it a good watering. Check it again early morning. See if it’s perked up at all. You may have to water daily for awhile , especially with heat now. Right now it’s losing water faster than the roots can absorb it.

Some stems wilted, some not not on the same plant indicates to me something else is wrong, not heat stress. Stem breakage, canker or rot, animal damage?

Thanks so much all! I planted them in mid-June, which is usually an okay planting time in my climate; since then, it has been unusually hot and very dry nearly every day. We have chipmunks and moles, but I checked the surrounding area and I don't see any burrows or holes. I just watered these well yesterday around 5p, they looked perfectly fine then. I'll head to home depot to get more mulch, maybe that will help as well as additional water. Thank you!

Pennlake, stems are fine, not broken. What causes rot - too much water? Thank you!

Being in soggy water in poorly draining soil for "too long" causes root rot. If you insert a finger into the soil to a depth of about 4", water if it feels dry or almost dry. Ramp up waterings from Spring levels to Summer levels. Arborescens are very water intensive and finicky so do not let them dry out. If you water, try to get the water to reach down to 8" or so. Maintain 2-4" of mulch year around but do not use rocks as mulch. Because the root system is not extensive yet (takes 1-3 years to get established), water the soil (never the leaves) from the base outwards in all directions). Hint: if it appears wilted early in the morning (6-8am) when you get up, it needs water (provided it has not developed root rot).

Thanks, Luis! Well, the rest of the plant appears to be dying now, so I must've done something wrong. The two adjacent MM's look fine, but so did this one yesterday before I watered. One thing occurred to me that there is a row of Incrediballs behind them that I water constantly and this bed is on a slope. Maybe this MM was getting water runoff from that and has just gotten too much of a good thing. Boo hoo.

Do not let the plant above the ground fool you thinking it is dead. The roots are what is important. I had one mophead that lost all leaves in July but I kept the soil moist and it leafed out... but in the Spring instead.

I agree that your MMs will get water from the plants above.Use the finger method to test if the MM soil is already moist.

The opposite is true also. I killed one plant in an incline once when I put the drip irrigation tube below the plant. It did not get enough water. Ooops! Live and learn.

Thanks, Luis, I won't dig it up just yet! Can you recommend a drip irrigation system? I have previously used only those crummy soaker hoses from home depot, and would love to have something more reliable. This summer, so far, I have been watering by hand, as our sprinkler system is currently inoperable.

Soaker hoses - the black ones made from recycled tires - are actually a very efficient watering system. The trick is to determine how long to run them based on your soil conditions. The water pressure should be very low....so that the hose only sweats water......so you need to let it run a long time for the water to penetrate deeply enough. In my garden that is 6-8 hours or overnight. Don't be alarmed at the duration - the emission rate is so low that you are not overwatering. Just slow enough so the water can penetrate the full depth of the root zone.

I acually prefer soakers to drip!! And I garden professionally :-)

Thank you, gardengal! There is every chance I have not been using them properly, I have found them to leak terribly at the joints (when stringing multiples), so much so, that the water delivery is practically non-existant at the end of the run. Perhaps I have the water pressure up too high? Maybe I'll dig mine up and give them another try!

Pride, last summer, I had a potted 'Mini Mauvette' just up and die while sitting on deck, temps had been pleasant, no tortourtly hot and I of course had kept the new purchase well tended. What I discovered was it had developed some type of stem rot at the base of the plant and one by one the stems would wilt and die until the whole thing was lost. You can check the base of the plant to see if something similar may have occurred to your plant.

Thanks, FrozeBudd! I just checked the base; nothing looks rotted, but the crown(?), under where all the stems connect to the base, seems almost loose. Now I'm wondering if I damaged something as I moved stems out of the way to water underneath. These stems are stiff, nothing at all like Annabelle's. Ugh, I think I killed it.

My Invicebelle LImetta that I planted last year did the same thing FrozeBudd described this spring. Just started dying off one stem at a time until nothing left. No regrowth at all yet.

Oh no, pennlake...that is pretty much what has happened to mine, what you and FrozeBudd describe, though I'm blaming myself since I'm an inexperienced gardener. All my stems are dead now. I might dig it up later and see what the roots look like. Now I'm worried for my other two...

No need to blame yourself. The only mistake you made was planting in summer. Summer planting is a recipe for failure. I no longer plant in summer. The same plants planted in spring or fall will flourish.

Losing another mimi-mauvette in the same manner as the first. We have been experiencing heavy rain in my area over the past few days, and I can't help but think that over-watering is a contributing factor, as the first one died after I perhaps gave it too vigorous a watering (I didn't think so at the time).

I'm totally bummed and won't be planting these again, I'll leave them to the more experienced gardeners.

On another sad note, my Annabelles and Incrediballs have been destroyed by the heavy rains, with many of the stems breaking and not just bending. Ugh.

Well, my third MM has died the same shriveling death, though I've cared for it well. It seems to me that these things do not like high heat, as that seems to be the one common denominator between the three deaths. No more MM's for me, I'm replacing them with Invincibelle Ruby. Though floppier than MM, at least I don't have to worry about this stem wilt problem...

Although, I had originally been enthusiastic regarding 'MM', the coloring had faded all too quickly despite this being one of the cooolest and wettest summers on record. On the other hand 'Invincibelle Ruby' has remained brightly colored. But, now, when summers are on the hot side, the color does also fade out, but not nearly as quickly as 'MM".

Pride, since planting 'Invincibelle Ruby' three years ago, I also have had several stems just up and wilt, so unfortunately, I think this type of hydrangea is just prone to such issues ... though, no wilted stems this year.

Thanks, FrozeBudd! I also felt the color faded too quickly on MM...it was touted as a rebloomer, but I didn't see that happening...maybe because they up and died too soon! I have three Invincibelle Rubies in pots right now, waiting their turn. They've got spent blooms, but also new ones. I'm sad to hear they are also vulnerable to stem wilt, but I'm willing to give them a try!

PW told me that the color would last around 2 weeks, less when it is hot and dry....

I am also not a fan of MM I have better luck with Inv 1 @11

Oh, ouch $$.

Arborescens are particularly difficult to keep alive sometimes due to heat stress and need for water. I actually lost one during winter, when my drip was turned off due to cold weather that was expected to be in the area for a week. After the week was over, I forgot to turn it back on for a couple of weeks, maybe a month. It never leafed out. In Spring, it looked like your last picture... sigh...

Hi Luis if u look at last picture i cut one the stems and it looks good ... hot Summer lots of rain so maybe it will come back

Hyed, I also agree, I'm rather pleased with 'Invincibelle Spirit II', plants are vigorous and bloom color holds for a lengthy time and they're bone winter hardy! I'm keen to add another one or two around the landscape.

Pride, I hope you'll have success with the 'Rubies', mine is looking good now when it comes to blooms, though I'll have to feed it well next spring in hopes of getting the plant to beef up!

I like my 'Limetta' and no worries about color changes :)

My guess it too much water. It was an incredibly wet spring and root rot may have set in. Also, it is a slow growing plant and if you are watering based on other fasting growing plants in the same area, this smaller, slower growing plant can be over watered.

Hi Tim, pruned back and the stems look good ... think I have a chance?