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Keeping Your Hydraneas Lush

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Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Recently Terasa Lott asked the Making It Grow panel about viewer’s question. This person purchased and planted a hydrangea in April. She correctly sited the hydrangea to get morning sun and afternoon shade. But it quickly started having brown edges on some of those large, fleshy leaves, even though she had irrigation. Our horticultural experts reminded viewers that plants in the nursery are usually watered once a day during the growing season and it takes time for plants to grow a root ball large enough to sustain them without additional watering. Established plants need an inch of water a week during the growing season but new transplants to your yard need extra care until their root system is large enough to support the top growth. Agent Jackie Jordan suggested that a one- gallon plant needs at least six weeks of extra watering. 

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.