I take your other one in the shade is bigger with buds or flowers already? Planted at the same time and same Hydrangea as the other? Did you cut off stems that looked dead earlier in the year?

For my area and most AM sun / PM shade is perfect. You can see some minor scorch on a few leaves, but no big deal at all. Sort of need more info, but I imagine the hydrangea will recover just fine (just going to have a bad year). They are pretty hard to kill.

We The shady one was planted first.this one just recently.the other one doesn't have any of the Browning and never has.this one bloomed a bit earlier.could it be not liking the wet soil. We had a lot of rain and the clay held on to the water.

I am in nc our sun is extremely
strong.

You said the one in the photo already bloomed once this year? I see a cut stem at the front right. This looks like a perfectly healthy plant, but you can also try:

- mix/add compost into soil around roots
- try a finer mulch than the bark nuggets you have
- fertilize with standard slow-release
- pile leaves over for winter to preserve more buds

Looks a bit sunburned to me. Usually I'd advise watering more frequently when hydrangeas are in too much sun, but you seem to think it has been overly wet. Are you sure? Stick your finger down into the soil about 4 inches. Is it wet down there, or just moist, or dry? If it is just moist or dry, I'd say water your hydrangea more often. You don't want it standing in water, but it likes a rather continuous moist soil, particularly when the sun is too hot.

Kate

Thanks for the advice I will check the soil tomorrow

Yea, when they have been recently planted in a sunny spot they will need babied for awhile. Just keep it hydrated and it will be fine. With a lot of clay around it will take longer to settle in. If it bothers you to much you could amend the soil as stated by others. Some day when it settles into that sunny spot it will probably out preform your other one in the shade. It's always a struggle to get any Mac the 1st year or 2 to get settled in when in a good amount of sun. Need to develop a deep root system.

the soil is nice and moist but not soaking as we havent had rain in a while. okay. i will leave it alone then and see how it does. thanks.