Here is a picture

Two thoughts....

1. Check the soil moisture in the actual rootball. Lots of rain means very little for newly planted plants with a dense rootball.

2. It was fairly warm on the weekend...have the flowers simply hit end-of-life.

If the original root ball has gotten either too wet or too dry, it will look like this. Often times there is an issue with water movement between the peat-based potting soil and the surrounding garden soil.

What did you do when you planted them? Were there circling roots? Was the potting soil wet or dry? Did you remove any or all of the potting medium? Did you water them in to settle the soil around roots? Did you add anything to the planting hole or just use native soil? Are they planted a bit high or a bit low?

Generally speaking, since these are newly planted and you won’t be creating additional root disturbance, I would dig them up to see what the original rootball feels like as far as moisture. If the root ball is too wet, plant high (in a slight mound of soil with only half the root ball below the original soil level and the rest in the mound) and remove more of the potting soil. If it is dry, sink the whole root ball into a bucket of water until it stops bubbling, remove and let drain for a few minutes, and then replant.

I planted them in mostly native soil along with the soil in the potting medium. I didn't remove any of the potting medium. The potting soil was mostly dry upon planting, but I watered them in and planted them at ground level. I don't recall seeing any circling roots. The deer were starting to eat the buds, so I sprinkled a bit of Milorganite around them just before bloom to keep the deer away, but didn't fertilize them with anything upon planting. I will dig them up to see what's going on and adjust per your suggestions.

Often once potting medium dries, it is difficult to rewet because of the peat content. (Dry peat repels water.) So I always make sure that the potting medium is well dampened before planting. Once in the ground water may just run around the outside of the rootball if it was dry to start with, so that may be the issue here.

just fyil. straight down pix are hard to interpret ...

from what i can see.. the only thing that happened.. is that the flowers went limp ... and that is ENTIRELY NORMAL ... if you plant a plant in flower ...

there was an interuption to water flow .. not surprisingly ... and the plant sacrificed the flowers... to maintain the leaves ...

i see nothing wrong with the leaves.... do you???

next time... you might hold it in the pot ... enjoy the bloom.. and then plant it ...or even better.. purchase it in lesser bud ... a week or two earlier .... maybe one single bud open.. to insure the color you want ... so the plant can recover.. before the flowers stress it more ...

its stressed ... let it recover.. before you think about doing much of anything else ...

take a tablespoon or small trowel... and dig a couple 3 inch holes.. in the ball planted.. and in native soil... and FIND OUT about moisture at depth .... water or dont.. according to what you find ... we are no better at guessing than you are ...

i NEVER fert new transplants.. nor any plant in stress ... yours is stressed ... just by looking at it ... so...imo.. fert is not a response ....

last word.. i always start with the mind set that i am planting a plant for the future.. if i lose this years bloom.. i really dont care.. i just want the leaves.. and the roots to recover and grow this year.... and i will enjoy the flowers for the next few decades ... there is seldom instant gratification in the garden ....

welcome to the forums ....

ken

They were just really thirsty. Dug them up and watered them thoroughly yesterday and they're pretty much all recovered. I purchased them with just buds, no bloom, but good to know for the future.

I'm super green with this gardening stuff-no pun intended. New homeowner, city girl, now living on a wooded lot. My house is 30 years old so I inherited mainly mature shrubs- azaleas, rhodies, arborvitae, holly-that sort of stuff. These guys we put in after taking down a few trees and we were left with a bare spot that borders the woods.

I google things and read, and I think that the worst possible thing has happened. I was finding things like "petal blight." Solutions being removing all flowers, removing all mulch, soil, etc. So, this forum is amazing and lead me to the simplest and correct solution. Thanks everyone for your in-put! Much appreciated :)

She just planted it, so no additional stress is involved, Ken.