It looks somewhat normal for hydrangeas. By this time of the year, hydrangea blooms begin to show their age and while they still remain attached to the stems for many more months, they begin a series of color changes. Some hydrangea blooms turn pale or lime greens, others add a mix of green and pink spots, others turn a sandy color and eventually they all brown out. On their own, they fall either in winter or spring 2019. If you do not like them at any time, you can deadhead the spent blooms by cutting the petiole string that connects the bloom to the end of the stem. Note that you are not cutting the stem, just the string that holds the bloom. When there is insufficient soil moisture (for example: during the heat of the day when the leaves loose moisture faster than the roots can absorb water), the leaves drop/wilt and the blooms, lacking water and internal pressure to keep the bloom upright, will bend downwards. But if the soil is sufficiently humid, they fix themselves overnight. If you ever want to know if they need water, check the plants in the morning (6-8am): if the leaves are wilted, they need water right away. In the Spring, I water about 1 gallon of water per plant but I increase that to 1.5 gallons of water per plant when temps start to reach above 85F in May and keep that level until cooler temps arrive in September. As far as when to water, use the finger method: insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" and water if the soil feels dry or almost dry. Do this from 6-8am daily for 2-3 weeks. Every time that you water, make a note in a wall calendar. After 2-3 weeks, determine how often you were watering. If you were watering -example- 1.5 gallons of water every 3 days then set the sprinkler or drip irriation or manually water 1.5 gallons every 3 days. If your temps vary by 10-15 degrees and stay there, do the finger method for another 2-3 weeks to see if you need to increase the amt of water or water more often. Like I suggested earlier, start Spring with whatever normal levels of watering you end up using. When temps go above 85F regularly, increase the amount of water per watering. When temps stay below 85F regularly in the Fall, reduce the amt of water per watering. Once the shrubs go dormant and all the leaves brown out, reduce watering to once every week or once every two weeks depending on local rains. When they leaf out, resume normal Springtime waterings.

There are several types of hydrangea blooms. The one you have is called a lacecap bloom. The center contains the "true" tiny flowers and the outside contains sepals, which we gardeners sometime call petals but are more like "special colored leaves". The sepals only grow on the outside edges of the true flowers. That is why the center looks like a flower gap without petals. The number, form, color of petals varies greatly based on which variety of lacecap hydrangea one has. Here is a bunch of lacecap pictures:

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0geKVgZE0RbtUsAHTcnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Hydrangea+Lacecap&fr=yhs-mozilla-102&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-102

Since watering of the plant was not uniform, some leaves probably browned out and fell, giving the shrub a scraggly appearance. Hydrangeas do best in uniformly humid soil than in soil that is wet, dries out, gets wet, dries out, etc. So, try to keep the soil humid as best as you can, without getting into wet and soggy spells (maybe consider turning off automated sprinklers during the rainy season).

Here is more info:

https://plantaddicts.com/types-of-hydrangeas

Where in the bay area are you? If you check the Sunset climate map - you will see that there are many different types of climate - some just a few miles from the next. If you are near SF or Oakland or the side of the Berkeley Hills, then you are in luck. East Bay can be much more Mediterranean and quite dry for hydrangeas. The only place I could grow them in my Walnut Creek garden was in the middle of a running creek! lol Closer to the coast - is much more hospitable to hydrangeas. Keep them out of direct sun or plant in almost total shade and they should be ok.

Completely normal. Don't have to do anything except cut spent blooms off 1-2 times a season.

Points:

1. Lacecap variety. Looks a lot like Edgy Orbits Hydrangea - Stock Photo from Proven Winners. They turn downward once the blooms are fully filled out.

2. Spent blooms will most always be pale. There are a few varieties that turn darker shades, but that's not nearly as common.

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I'll add that E.O. is one of the best hydrangeas of any kind that money can buy, if you can find it. Mine has grown next to nutrient-hogging evergreens for 5+ years, withstanding sun from 12-7pm, all types of winter conditions. No protection ever. Never droops. Blooms reliably every summer.

Thanks for the all the advice, I really appreciate it! Good to know that the gaps are probably just part of the flower.

@springwood_gardens : great to know these are reliable hydrangeas. I did notice that the blooms didn't turn pale after awhile, some of the initial ones bloomed bright pink right away, but then more recent blooms bloomed pale pink or green/white and never got to the vibrant pink color.

@ophoenix We're near San Jose (Campbell) so it does get pretty hot here and dry too. The plant is in the shade though.

@luis_pr Thanks for the detailed watering advice. I admit that I haven't watered it as consistently as I should (especially last year when we'd just moved in and it wasn't blooming.) I'm a bit nervous about overwatering plants, but judging from your guidelines I may be underwatering it. I do tend to water is occasionally throughout the week and then pretty heavily with the hose on weekends, so perhaps that's not the best strategy. There is a sprinkler, though it seems to just get the rocks and lawn. I'm not sure how much of it actually hits the garden. I will try watering it regularly throughout the week now that it's so hot out, and see what happens.

You could try to put a few tuna cans and see if they fill up with the sprinkler. It should be about 1" of water if you fill a tuna can. Maybe see if you can use taller nozzles and make sure it has a 360 degree heads instead of, for example, 180 degree heads.

Keep it "light" with the rocks. Hydrangeas do not perform well in hot weather with rock mulch but a few large rocks only may be ok. They tend to keep the plant roots heat stressed at night when the rock releases the heat it has trapped during the day.

It’s a rental house so we’re stuck with the sprinklers as is (also a rental hydrangea I suppose but I will treat it like my own! :) I’ll try the tuna can trick to judge the water. There are a few big ornamental rocks surrounding the plant, but no rock mulch.

I am not familiar with your type, but my Limelights start somewhat greenish and turn into this lovely off-white really quick.. and then the flowers just died into this beautiful brown. My Quick fire starts off white and turns into pink eventually, but I don't think I have that "pale" problem, although like someone else mentioned it could be an age thing.

shinyonne, you are in a very difficult area for successful hydrangeas! If this is a rental, I would not stress over the one in the garden. If you want to give it a go, then water the bejessus out of it! If you did not get blossoms yet, then you probably will not later in the year. While hydrangeas might not be for your garden there are thousands that will be perfect and really easy for you to grow. I know because I left - in Walnut Creek - a garden that bloomed almost every month of the year. But as I earlier said, the only hydrangea was growing in a creek with water all year! lol

The best nursery to see all your options - at very good prices and super neat people is right over the hill in Watsonville, Sierra Azul Nursery . They have a huge demonstration garden so you can see how the plant grows and looks at maturity. They will help you select plants for Campbell that will be perfect for you. it was my very favorite nursery for years but I had to buy my plants and keep them in their containers and move them all over the garden till I found their happy place. Plants like salvias, rock roses, cannas, and many beautiful grasses are just some of the suggestions. If you are planning on moving to a permanent home most can be transplanted successfully even after several years.

Enjoy your unique climate - it is called Mediterranean and is only found in about 2% of the earth!

Here is the link to their web page. http://www.sierraazul.com/index.html

Thanks ophoenix! I will check out Sierra Azul. We love to do the drive over the mountains at least one weekend a month so next time we go I'll definitely check them out! The hydrangea is blooming this year (it did not bloom last year). It's just doesn't look all that showy. I was thinking of trying to plant some hydrangeas in containers in the back - which is entirely shaded by a large live oak. Or maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment. :)