Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Burnt clematis and hydrangea

TashaBTashaB Posts: 6
in Problem solving
Could anyone give me some advice? My clematis has been completely fried by the heatwave and is now crispy and brown, do I leave it (it looks really awful) or cut it back? And my hydrangea has some parts flowering, but other parts look dead.  Can I cut the dead flowers back, to make it look nicer, or should I leave them in place to protect against frosts? 😱 

No sign of rain here in Kent and the temperatures are going up again next week! 😬

Thank you 😀

Posts

  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    Hi Tasha🙂

    Can you give some more info please? Which clematis (name, group or type please) and which hydrangea? Look at the plant very carefully. Are there any signs of life on either of them? - look carefully where the leaves attach to the stems.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Hi @TashaB - what type of clematis is it you have? By that - I don't mean the variety, but whether it's a Group 2 or 3, the larger flowering kinds, or one of the earlier, spring flowering Group 1s. The early ones manage dry soil better than the bigger, later ones, but it would depend on where it's growing, and how it looks generally. You can certainly cut it back if it's dead, but if it's dried out at the base, and is a large flowering type, it probably just needs lots of water, and a good thick mulch. I'm assuming it's in the ground too?
    It's very difficult for hydrangeas to do well if you're having that sort of weather. They like the kind of climate I have here - cooler, moister, and with some shade. I wouldn't cut the flowers off though, for the reasons you're giving, and to some extent, the dried foliage will protect any greener stuff lower down, so it's best to just leave that too. In the meantime, you'd need to water it copiously -a bucketful in at the base, and repeat to keep the soil from drying out extensively. A good, thick mulch of bark or similar, after it's thoroughly dampened, will also help. 

    A photo or two of the plants will also help.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • TashaBTashaB Posts: 6
    edited August 2022
    Hello, sorry for the delay in replying, @Fairygirl, I inherited the clematis so I don’t know which group it is, but it usually flowers (purple) around June time?  @Topbird, same for the hydrangea I’m afraid, all I know is that it is a white one 😬.  

    I’ve attached some photos. It’s another sunny hot day today!

    Thank you for taking the time to reply 😊

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Doesn't really matter what kind they are at this point.  They're dying of thirst so give each one a full 10 to 15 litre bucket of water, poured slowly so it soaks in rather than just runs off.

    Repeat daily for a few days then every 2 or 3 days till you get some serious rain. Be prepared to repeat as necessary in future hot dry spell.

    You can safely cut off the crispy clematis stems as they are unlikely to regrow but watering the roots will enable them to produce new shoots from below soil level.  Once theplant is rehydrated you can try a liquid feed of tomato fertiliser.   

    You can carefully remove the crispy hydrangea flowers too cutting them back to a live leaf or stem node, even if that means going very low. 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
Sign In or Register to comment.