I have a hydrangea bush in front of my house that is just over one year old. I find that if I don't water it almost every day with two buckets of water then it wilts. What can I do? Do I need to adjust the soil around the plant? Here is a photo of it (after it was watered for the day). Thank you for your help!
How much sun is it getting? Hydrangeas are thirsty plants anyway, but they'll be worse the more sun they're getting. So if you're finding you don't like the frequency you're having to water it, you might consider moving it to somewhere that gets more shade.
It gets morning sun only. Maybe that's even too much? I don't know. Thank you for your helpful post.
It should be fine with morning sun. Instead of watering it as soon as you see it wilting, you might wait and see if it perks up again when the sun's not on it anymore, sometimes plants will wilt as a defense mechanism but when the sun goes away it'll perk back up again. Next time it wilts, don't water it but wait until the evening and see if it's perked back up again. If it hasn't, then it really needed watering, but if it perks back up on its own then it didn't need water. I also wonder if watering it with buckets like that is the best way, if you have clay soil most of that could be running off vs really soaking in, so you might be better off with something like a soaker hose or drip irrigation that will apply a lower volume of water over a longer period of time. The key to most plants is to water less frequently but more deeply, that will encourage their roots to go down deep where the soil stays moist for longer. If you give them frequent shallow watering, then their roots will all stay near the surface which dries out much quicker.
I agree with ecrane3, I have a clump of shasta daisy which will wilt a bit on very hot days, but by dusk, will be standing back up quite happily.
