I'm not familiar with bumper crop - what is it? It is often advised to use native soil when planting. And do you mean a reblooming hydrangea? Roots can be damaged when too wet but it shouldn't rain forever so let them dry completely before watering again. Hydrangeas do love water.

Glad they love water! Good to know. I'll let them dry out before watering again. How long should I let them dry out?

Bumper crop this: (attached photo)

These hydrangea bloom from spring to fall

What is the type/name of hydrangea? Blooming from "spring until fall" sounds a bit like marketing hype, IMO. Even the reblooming forms generally have a bit of rest period in there somewhere.

I use Bumper Crop a lot - it is a great soil amendment but you do not want to use it to backfill individual planting holes. Either amend the entire planting area with it or use it as a mulch or topdressing. It's far too moisture retentive to be used as a backfill and can create a bucket of overly wet soil next to plant roots if the native/indigenous soil does not itself drain very rapidly.

As long as your soil is good and drains well, don't worry about the rain - 'hydrangea' is Greek for 'water vessel'. They love water!

I'll check the name tag later and post.

So I put in bumper crop at bottom of the hole. Put in hydrangea. Threw some more in around it.Then filled in rest of normal dirt mixture. Will that be ok? Or have I failed? Haha :D

If the soil drains well, it should be fine. A way to tell if the soil is draining well is to insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4". If the soil feels wet and it has not rained in the prev few hours, the soil may not be draining well. If the soil feels moist then the soil may be draining just fine. If it feels dry, the soil is draining too well.

On weeks when you do not get rain, give a shrub sold at a nursery about 1 gallon of water per watering. Maybe 1/2 gallon in your case since you describe it as small. In the summer, increase the amount of water and reduce it when summer temps leave. Use the finger method to tell if you need to water: if the soil feels dry or almost dry then water it.

Invest in a rain gauge to tell how much rain water you got and place it near the hydrangea until you get used to keeping the soil as evenly moist as possible.

Add mulch, about 3-4" of organic mulch up to the drip line. That will protect the roots in the hot summer and cold winter plus it will keep the soil moist longer.

I have a sneaky suspicion our soil drains really poorly - at least for now. I say for now as we just moved into this home and the previous owners never raked the leaves up around the plants. There is a lot of leaf litter around the patio around all the trees/ bushes and I think it's holding moisture to the soil. My River birch and fig did not need a watering for a week or so as soil was still really moist. I have one of those moisture readers. Best $10!

When I remove the leaf litter and put mulch instead maybe that will help dry out the soil more.

Question. About the 3-4 inches. So I just covered their roots in dirt. Not too much or anything. But if I put 3-4 of mulch it will be higher than their lowest leaves. Is it a problem if the mulch is very high? I know not to burry their leaves in it. I just don't know how high is ok for them. My bushes the way I planted, their roots are covered a few inches and their leaves touch the ground. Is this ok?

Thanks so much! :D

Thanks so much. After the rain in the upcoming days I will test this soil to see how it's draining.

After a while week + of heavy rain, when should one expect the soil to dry? After how many days?

Thanks SO much for all your help! :)

"Their roots are covered a few inches and their leaves touch the ground. Is this ok?"

That sounds a bit deep to me. I usually plant so that the top of the rootball is at or even slightly above ground level if the drainage is poor, and then move dirt so that the root ball is fully covered, but only by 1/2" or thereabouts, so there may be a very slight mound. Then a light layer of mulch to within a few inches of the stems (but not against the stems), increasing as it goes out toward the outer edge of the plant. I mulch the entire surface of new beds to keep weeds from growing, and when I am ready to plant, I pull the mulch aside, plant, and then put it back, to near the stems.

So here is what it looks like. The ground is wet and soggy from rain. White stuff is a big giant tree that is dropping it's small white flowers down on the garden.

Thank you! So much good advice here. You guys are great!

Btw here is the type I planted

Also (sorry!) is it ok if I accidentally mixed mulch in there when I filled in the hole? All the dirt I dug out had some old mulch in it from years ago and it got mixed in there with the Bumper Crop.

Also I just looked at them. I think it's a 1/2 inch to 1 inch of dirt/ leaves/ mulch etc on top of roots. That's it. When I stick my fingers in there I feel the root mass under those leaves quite soon and that's about the measurement I got.

Thank you!

Depending on where you are located, the bloom cycle for this cultivar is more likely to begin in early to midsummer rather than in spring. But as a reblooming hydrangea it does have a long bloom cycle, although may not be in continuous bloom the entire period. And it can get larger than the 2-3 feet advertised. My Pistachio (another Forever and Ever plant) is easily 4'x4' in a container.

I think NHBabs just wanted to make sure that your pot's potting soil had been planted just a tad higher than the surrounding soil and not lower. Some settling tends to occur with potting soil so aim for the potting soil to be 1/2 to 1" higher but your picture just shows their leaves touch the ground because they are just small hydrangeas. They look good! Enjoy!

Quick question about these little guys.

I planted them 2 feet apart. Each one having three feet to grow (To the left one foot, middle counted as one foot, to the right one foot).

Do these guys usually grow beyond their max? I would like to know as I planted them 2 feet apart and am worried they won't make a 'wall' of hydrangea if they only grow 2 feet wide each. If that makes sense.

So long convoluted question short, does this type usually grow wider than expected or under?
Thanks!

How far they are apart:

Might be a touch over 2 feet across

Yes, they can exceed the numbers on the labels for a plethora of reason, the first one being that these are estimates at a long time frame such as 10 years. In my long growing season, hydrangeas tend to grow more/longher so if I see that the labels gives a range, I choose the longest number. But if you are in cold zone like Z5, I would choose the smaller number.

However, the size pattern should be maintained. By that I mean, if the shrub is taller than wider per the label size estimates, if the plant gets bigger than the label estimates, you would expect that if it will still remain taller than wider.

If you think the separation will not be enough, you could transplant to give them more elbow room or do nothing until they start getting close to touching each other. Once they start touching each other, feel free to do some pruning or transplant them.

You normally want space for air flow so the plants do not get fungal issues on the leaves, especially if there is overhead watering involved.

Thanks so much. That makes me happy to know!

Going into almost two straight weeks + of complete rain for my hydrangeas. Is that going to kill these new guys? I know they like rain, but this is like Noah's Arc level :D

Depends on (a) exactly how much water is being dumped, (b) how well your soil drains and (c) how much sun + wind they get (these two cause evaporation).

If concerned a lot, I would remove the mulch so the soil dries out faster. But remember to put the mulch back once the Arc reaches its final destination! ;o)

If it becomes an extreme problem, put them back in pots while you re-evaluate this location.

Moisturemeters may be of some use if you have a hard time telling how dry or wet the soil really is.

Thanks so much. Good idea.

Now I don't have anywhere to put all the leaves (that's our mulch lol) around our plants but what if I just move it off of their bases and moving out as far as their leaves.

I have a newish weeping River birch (got a month ago) and 3 year old fig tree, should I pull mulch from their bases too to let them dry out a bit?

Thanks!

Normally no. Doing that is useful when it rains severely and you get a break in the weather. Or if you are flooded. Since my soil is clay, I look at my rain gauges and determine if I got 'dumped a lot' (3' or more") before deciding if I want to do something like checking the soil around water sensitive plants with a moisture meter or with a finger. So, no, normally, you do not want to be doing this every time it rains. Only when it rains a lot daily.

Normally this is what you would do to test soil drainage; it should be done before planting:

http://www.todayshomeowner.com/diy-soil-drainage-perk-test-for-your-yard/

For now, with all the frequent rain you are getting, you may not be able to dig a dry hole as shown. You need to wait until things clear up a bit. Perhaps monitor the soil using the finger method (insert a finger to a depth of 4") about 2 hours or so after the last rain. Take action if you see that the soil stays wet for several days in a row (you could put them in pots and work the soil if it drains poorly) but... to really know how your soil drains, do the test in the link above.

I know how you fell. I have chances for rain and severe t-storms in 5 of the next seven days. Just last night, we got dumped with an 1" of rain. It felt worse than that. There was an eerie orange/yellow glow outside (sun was setting) and I thought it was time to join the arc because winds were gusting to 70mph, the city alarms were sounding off, the trees looked like they were bending something fierce, the power went off for a few seconds, there was a little hail aaaaand, all of my dogs were circling around me! And one had the guts to 'ask' that I let her out to do her business (she was not allowed until later). Hee hee hee.

Luckily, as much water as I saw coming down, I only got 1". Ironic. Mother Nature put a huge show and I just got one inch of rain... ;o)

oh no! a 40 degree cold snap is coming one night this week! do I need to protect my new little guys somehow?!

No, they should be "tough enough". Late frosts is usually 'the' problem in that it can zap leaves but if that happens, you get new leaves later on.

thanks so much. you guys have been so helpful. :)

so we have buds opening now!!

how the roots on this one? not too shallow right? (maybe pic isn't so clear sorry!)

I could not "see" clearly but the shrub looks so "happy" that I would say the roots are fine.

:D. Good to know! Thank you!