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Plants and Hot Weather

When it is very hot and dry in New Jersey in the summertime, my hydrangeas get extremely wilty in the afternoon sun then perk up when I water them later in the day. As a rule, will some plant/flower species wilt in hot afternoon sun as their way of protecting themselves from the heat? If I water them later in the day am I in danger of overwatering them ? Thanks.
Submitted by grich1217



Thanks for writing. It's very common for plants such as hydrangea to wilt during the day if they get direct sun and then recover at night. What happens is that the plants lose more moisture through their leaves during hot weather than their leaves can absorb, no matter how moist the soil is. The best thing you can do to prevent this from happening is to move your plants to a spot where they get shade during the afternoon.


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