Help with watering terminology

I planted three new beds this fall and made sure to put plants together with similar watering needs and mulched all the beds. Now I'm worried about watering some too much or too little. All the plants are young, so I assume they need more water now than they will ultimately.

Here are some of the watering terms they came with:

Needs constantly moist soil
Regular watering
Periodic watering
Doesn't like wet feet
Don't let soil dry out
Well drained moist soil

It's all a little confusing to me. How can you not let a plant have wet feet and still have moist soil??? How moist is "constantly moist" is that dripping wet such that if I laid my hand in the soil the water would ooze up? With the mulch on top of the beds, I noticed the soil underneath is always "moist" even if the plants are starting droop.

Most of my beds are a grainy-clay mixed with potting soil and compost. A few beds I also added peat to for more water retention. Here in Colorado, with 0 humidity, things tend to dry up pretty fast.

Maybe this seems like a silly question... :) But I'm getting dizzy trying to figure out when to water and when not to water.

'Needs constantly moist soil', 'Regular watering', 'Don't let soil dry out' and 'Well drained moist soil' all basically mean the same thing. You want to keep the soil evenly moist (damp all the way through) but not sopping wet. This might require daily watering with a sprinkler or a soaker hose. Your plants might be drooping because the soil hasn't been watered completely through. Even if the the top layer of the soil feels moist, it doesn't mean that the water has soaked in deep enough to reach the root systems below. A good way to make sure your watering throughly is to either stick your finger or a small garden trowel down deep into the soil to check for moisture.

'Doesn't like wet feet' and 'Periodic watering' also mean basically the same thing. This just simply means that you need to let the soil dry out in between waterings. You can check how dry the soil is using the aforementioned finger/garden trowel trick.

Perfect. I knew there had to be simpler way of grouping them. I didn't think there could really be too many delineations. Thanks for the clarification. So I'll go out and water everything by my Iris' and Guara's today. ; )

Glad to have been of some help. Good luck with your new beds!

In a zone 5, I would be slowing down on the watering if you have started your fall season, also as you dont say what kind of plants you are growing and caring for, it is hard to say how much water is too much and what is too little, clay soil has a habit of being really cold in winter as it retains moisture and has not got the same capacity for retaining nutrients the same as ordinary soil, it also traps air in the particles that prevent plants from breathing and air getting to the roots, come summer, it bakes hard and water runs off the surface because it gets a crust forming on the top inch or so, you have done the right thing by adding peat/compost to this but peat is quite acidic so food is normally added to this so the plants get the nutrients to put on growth, it may be depending on the type of plants that you are growing, these are going into winter dormancy and the wilting is them starting to die off naturally, most plants dont need the same watering regime in winter as they do in summer, fall is also the best time to plant as the plants dont have the really hot weather to compete with, could you perhaps give a list of some plants you are worried about so we could give you better advice on the care they need, good luck. Weenel.

Thanks for the detailed information. Most of my established plants I'm only watering every few days now (such as my trumpet vines once a week, honeysuckles about twice a week, etc). However, I took advantage of the huge fall perennial sales to fill some new beds I had just finished rather than paying full cost next year.

One bed I have hostas, shade bulbs (snowdrops I think they were called) and coral bells. Those all seem to be doing fine with water every other day but the hostas are laying on the ground I think from being in the ground rather than a pot. The leaves are a good color and firm still.

The other bed has some monkshood, wild geraniums and garden phlox. The garden phlox is very limp on a few stems and others have new growth. It was pretty root bound too though, so I cut a lot of the existing roots before planting. Maybe that's why it's wilting some? I've been watering this bed every day since the plants went in two weeks ago.

The bed I'm having the most trouble with is my "constantly moist" bed by my faucet. I don't always have a lot of control over the moisture there because despite changing out hoses and O rings and other things, it still leaks. In any case, I wasn't too worried since all those plants like water it just saves me time when I get to that bed. :) In there I have some Corydalis, a Hydrandgae and a Toad Lily. All things that I'll be lucky to keep alive through winter. The Hydrangae leaves all firm but all pointed downward and the color of the leaves all went from red to purple except for a few new leaves. The Corydalis is starting to turn a little yellow and look a little droopy. The lily is loving life and just put off 6 new flowers. The soil mix is 1/3 native grainy clay and the other 2/3 is a compost, potting soil, peat mix I made up. I've been watering this bed once and sometimes twice a day since I planted it a week ago.

Normally by now we would have our first snow about two weeks ago. But the temps have held in the mid 80's and only barely dipping below 50 at night. It's really crazy and all my plants I just put in are acting like it spring already. I've been watering heavy to get them going before any freeze, is that bad? Should I start backing off more and let them die back?

Now I feel like this is getting really wordy, sorry. I hope I got the important stuff in. Here's a pic of the Hydrangae. The flash washed out some of the purple.

The hydrangea looks like it's getting either too much or too little water, the symptoms are fairly similar. Based on everything you've said, I think that overwatering is a little more likely, but just before the next time you were planning to water, I'd stick your finger an inch or two down in the soil and see what it feels like. If it's still pretty wet, then you need to let it dry out a bit more, but if it feels dry then it needs more water. The corydalis looking a bit yellow and droopy also sounds like it could be overwatering.

dont forget, we are now into October and all the plants you have mentioned will be starting to go into the dormant season, winter for me, also keep in mine that as these plants were in pots all summer in the garden center, you have removed them from there containers and into different conditions, so most plants do go into a wee bit of shock, if I were you, I would be holding back on the watering now as IF you do get a really cold spell or heavy snow fall, you have your plants sitting in very wet soil, they will die from frozen roots and foliage that is too soft and tender for snow, next year, they will have enough foliage and better root system to contend with the season they have got through all summer, so I think as far as this time of year goes, you are expecting too much from the plants as for good foliage and flowers, you could end up killing them with kindness, remember the reason the stores have sales this time of year is because the plants are past there beauty stage, dying back for autumn/winter and they need to nurture them more because they are harder to look after IF they are in pots, so you did good getting the plants cheaper but remember, the reason was that the plants are over for this year, hope this helps you to try stop worrying so much, your plants seem normal to me, dont know about the ones beside the constant flow from the tap that drips over the winter, but all the other ones are as mine at this time of year, they just need to recover from transplant shock and they will over the last of the season and come spring they will be starting to put out new roots under ground before you even notice the nice new top growth peeping up through the soil, all the plants you mentioned will die away and loose there foliage any day now, watering them in a clay soil will just add to their stress at this cooler time of year, soon as you see new shoots poke through in spring, give them a feed, rake it into the top soil and keep an eye on the growing beds, they wont all come into view at the same time as some flower later than others, but for now, just add a good mulch around them, not against the stems, just the root area and they will go to sleep for the winter. Good luck. WeeNel.

Thanks for the kind recommendations. So even though they were just planted, I can cut back on the water. Will do. Beginners need all the kind tips they can get. :)