I will keep sending you some of my 77F cool weather then! ;o))

No heat waves in New England . Been pretty rainy, some days 80 , but usually less so far.

bring some of that heat here. I'm sorely missing some early hints of summer. It's been one rainy spring. On the plus side, I have not needed to turn on irrigation at all. Hand watering new plantings does get kinda annoying though

I haven't turned on my irrigation either.

My irrigation has not decided whether to be "on" or "off". It usually is "on" by mid of May when temps go above 85-90F. But this year we have had some false starts. El Nino is messing this up for me this year.

When is the best time to turn on irrigation? When the temperature is consistently above 80? Is it better to run it daily or a couple times a week?

You turn on the irrigation when you need to......so dictated by weather as well as temps. It is rarely above 80 here in summer but extremely dry from July through September. However, few homeowners here have much inground irrigation. And it is always best to water long and slow. Once or twice a week for an extended period rather than daily for a short interval.

No heat here either! Next 15 days I see nothing above 80 and it was 48 here last night. I thought the 40's were suppose to be a thing of the past by June? Crazy weather and yet cool sunny days. No humidity NO A.C yet, and no watering the lawns on the plus side. First year I am not dealing with Powdery Mildew without chemicals!

Oh, did I mention that walking on the sand at the beach has been awesome ? No burning the feet, not yet. I am seeing on the farmers almanac a cool July! I wonder if they are right?

Hot yesterday 91 degrees and today a bit cooler around 75 or so. Hand watering in the garden and keeping an eye on plants. Plants are doing just fine and the warm weather finally got Golden Crane to give up its lovely fragrance. New plants are loving the warm temps and growing very fast. Some parts of the garden are requiring daily watering and we are cooperating! lol The hummingbirds were drinking the cool water off the Hydrangea Ayesha plant (5ft x 8ft wide) and taking a shower under the sprinkler.

101 today and tomorrow. I have three hydrangeas that are still getting established, so I put a shade cloth over them. Fingers crossed that this will help them out.

91?? What a difference a Sound makes!! Only 82 here on the Island (a bare 12 miles away from ophoenix, but most of which is a big chunk of salt water). I did water though........way too many things in containers that need attention in warm, dry weather.

ophoenix, is your embothrium/firebush flowering? Was at my niece's this weekend and both of hers were in full bloom and being visited by flocks of hummingbirds!

We are back to normal temps and the hydrangeas are happy! lol The embothrium/firebush is not blooming and has never even show promise! It will get much more sun this year after trimming the firs - but we will see. I might go and see if it is trying to bloom. lol

Cooper - water the heck out of the hydrangeas! If you have decent drainage don't worry about over watering. The only spot I could grow a hydrangea in my northern California garden was in a running creek! I regularly plop hydrangeas still in pots into a bucket or pan of water and leave them there to recover. People talk about root rot, but that is soil born and does not pose a problem in water. I have left plants - in containers and bare root - in water for weeks and they thrived just fine. I presently have more than 60 in my garden and propagate tons every year. We have no irrigation and hand water everything. But, this is in the PNW! Keep that in mind - and hot temps here are sporadic and the humidity is low and our nights cool off usually down to the 50 - 60's. That is the description for the Marine Climate. Northern CA is Mediterranean Climate! Fossils of hydrangeas can be found in the PNW showing that they have been growing here for millions of years.