agree.. we are moving into late fall.. everything looks wonky ...

in every post.. tell us where you are.. big city name ...

i see the house wall .. you planted these plants perfectly away form the wall.. if you presume they will never get any bigger in their lives... but they will .. so you will either have to learn how to prune them.. or if possible.. you might want to move them now ..

never be concerned.. in late fall .. that things start looking bad.. its not really time to start spraying things for bugs unless you have a great big problem..

same for disease for the most part....

and dont get me wrong.. knowledge is power .. and to relax.. you need to know whats going on ... so come back often

ken

Thank you so much everyone! I learned a lot!

I'm in zone 5 and I planted them on the east side of the house.

I'm concerned because the area along a house wall tends to be dry while mophead hydrangeas prefer plenty of water. Irrigating next to your foundation is bad for the house. Maybe they aren't planted as closely to the house as the photo suggests.

The foliage has very small amounts of leaf spotting (hard to make out; the pics got too fussy when I enlarged them) but the foliage has a lot of powdery mildew (the grey/white powder on some of the leaves... I am assuming that is not dirt or mineral leftover from water evaporation). PM spore germination is promoted by either humid environments, overhead watering (only water the soil) and-or over-watering. You can either get a fungicides to spray all parts of the plant above the ground thoroughly or make your own spray (60% water +40% milk of any time; spray weekly and discard unused solution; re-apply after it rains). Powdery mildew will cause leaf discoloration although nowadays, you may also get some similar discoloration due to the fall aging process of leaves. I would address PM now -while the leaves are green and producing food for the roots in winter- and then re-start again in spring, as PM can cause loss of vigor and reduce bloom sizes. To reduce the number of spores, cut off the leaves and deadhead -not the same thing as pruning- the spent blooms when all of them turn brown and discard them in the trash. Consider at that time replacing the mulch with new mulch. Soaker hoses and drip irrigation should help but if a sprinkler is all you have, activate the station that waters hydrangeas only around the 6-8am period so the leaves are not wet for long periods of time. The blooms look fine for this time of the season. The leaves show no indication of interveinal yellowing at this moment.

Homenewbie23, I agree with everything others have said. My flowers look the same and I am zone 5b. Since your hydrangeas are young, as luis said, make sure to cut your blooms. In winter, heavy snow will break branches, especially young ones. As your bush matures, you will want to learn how to prune. Keep us posted!

debra