dark red sun parasol

I live in Oklahoma. When I bought these plants I was told to go ahead and plant it outdoors in my garden, that it was hearty enough to survive an Oklahoma winter. It started out great, but now the leaves are turning yellow and falling off. And from what I have read, its probably wont survive the winter. Why are my leaves turning yellow? And what are the odds that it will come back next year now that I have planted it outdoors? Please help, I am new to this.

It won't survive a winter in OK. But you can always pot it up and bring it inside for the winter if you want to keep it.

As far as the leaves yellowing--how long ago did you plant it? If you just got it, then it's probably just transplant shock. If it's been in the ground for a while, then chances are you're either watering it too much or not enough (both of those can cause similar symptoms).

I bought two dark red parasols, they have been in the ground around a month, and were doing beautifully.I was so proud of them. But then the crazy weather came and we had a lot of rain. Its been a week or perhaps a little more with no rain, and now I am not sure what to do.I am not sure how long to wait to water it again. So, I can just dig them up, put them in pots for the winter and then back outdoors in the spring ? You would think would have learned my lesson when the same people told me the gardenia I bought could survive an Oklahoma winter in my outdoor garden. That has been a night mare. The roots are to big and run too deep to take in and out of the ground and its just a mess, fighting for survival. I have to cut it back every year because it turns brown.

Well there's your answer right there why the leaves are yellowing, you didn't water them in a week

The yellowing leaves could be from getting drowned during all your rain (I've seen several posts recently from plants that got waterlogged and that was causing problems). I would suspect that over not watering in a week, but if it's been hot and your soil is really fast draining then it's possible that they've dried out too much since the rain ended. Try doing the finger test--stick your finger down a few inches into the soil where the roots are and see how it feels. If it's still feeling wet then you don't need to water yet and the yellowing leaves were likely caused by too much water from the rain, and if it feels bone dry then it definitely needs water.

As far as potting up for the winter--I don't know how much their roots will grow in a year, but it'll be less stressful for them if they live in pots all year long and get brought in & out. Otherwise they'll go through transplant shock twice a year, once when you plant them in the garden in the spring and once when you dig them up in the winter and put them in a container. Make sure when you do move them to a container that you shake off as much of the garden soil as possible from their roots--garden soil doesn't drain well enough to be used in containers so you'll want as much of the container as possible to be filled with potting mix.