I think it is overwatered. Water when the top few 2-4 inches of the soil feel dry, not just because you decided to water daily or because it is hot. It can get root rot that way.

Extract it and leave it as is but in full hade to dry. Cut any roots that smell rotted. Replant when the outer soil feels drier and it does not drip water from below. Or put it back in the plastic pot for a couple weeks and replant.

It should eventually loose foliage but it depends on where you are. Too early for that in my area.

I am in Indiana- and temps for last 2 weeks have been super hot, touching 90 at times, so we have been watering every day. So not really season change per se. Not sure how to check if soil is dry--- there is mulch all around. Any tips how to check?

I wonder if it's the same problem with the hydrangea we planted... similar behavior of the plant. Also East facing-- also 607 hours of sun a day- someone said hydrangeas need water every day. We also planted boxwood and been watering every other day. All these plants are in the ground for about 2 weeks now- we are novice at this and just did the whole front of the house planting ourselves. How often should I water?

And lastly you think this hibiscus will still survive? It has lost 80% of its leaves in last 4 days-- after I took this picture. They dried up rather rapidly.

To check if it needs water, do not check the temperature. Instead, insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 3-4" (not counting the mulch) and water if the soil feels dry. Get the soil moist ( when watering) down to 4-8" ... Depends on soil types, how deep the roots go to, etc.

It may loose a bunch of leaves or all or (hopefully not) even die. Try forcing the soil to dry out fast as described above. But it may develop (or not) new leaves in several weeks or (if winter arrives early) next year. Mine awaken late in Spring, around early May; later for you maybe.

You can scratch (very lightly) the stems to see if a stem is still alive or not. But what is really important is if the roots are still ok and you can't tell unless you were to dig and look; too messy for me! ;0)

Research what warranty your nursery has & what condition the shrub is in (I cannot say for sure without checking the roots) and then either return or keep the plant accordingly.

What matters is just how moist - or not - the original root-balls are being kept. When potted stock is newly planted it may in fact need to be watered nearly as often as if it was still in the pots. If you haven't learned how to assess the situation by looking at the top of the potting soil then poke around in it.

Otherwise your hibiscus plants look like they do when they are starting to shut down for the year. In my area - which is part of USDA 8 - these (perennial hibiscus in general) start late and stop early.

Hmm, no, too early to be shutting down in Indiana, maybe next month. In Indiana, you'll start to see growth in late spring, around May/June time frame. Since they're herbaceous perennials, they die back completely and regrow every year. You can expect the flower to bloom starting around late July/early August and continue blooming through the end of September. They will lose their leaves and die back with the weather, so it depends on when the frost hits. You can expect that to be sometime in October or November.

I was looking at potted perennials in a Seattle (USDA 8) garden center yesterday and their perennial hibiscus looked exactly like the ones asked about here. Up on a table, in full sun, among various other kinds of perennials that looked fine.

You did? Ah, October is a good time to go shopping for plants that have nice Fall foliage. I went shopping yesterday for gourds, pumpkins, squashes. And all those Halloween decorations! Talk about having to leave the credit cards at home or else you buy the whole store!!!! Hee hee hee.

Ones in the ground at two locations near me haven't gone nearly so completely shabby yet so I think the appearance asked about here - and which I have seen in multiple instances in my area recently - must be due to extreme leaching of soil-less potting medium. Because of production facility fertilization programs not having been continued by retailers and end consumers.