How many hours of sun does it receive? Morning sun or afternoon sun?

Afternoon sun.. so maybe starting around 1pm or so?

I recently bought a lace-cap hydrangea (but haven't planted it yet). This is my first hydrangea, so I am no expert -- but the first thing that came to mind when I saw your photo was that the rock mulch could reflect more heat than this plant would be happy about...

Yeah I did put some other mulch down around it as well.. maybe I’ll try pulling the rocks back!

Needs more water. Soil should be well draining but consistently moist. Planting now in summer heat pretty much guarantees the need to check moisture levels on a daily basis. Don't rely on the rain. A long, slow soaking at the root crown as necessary, so the water penetrates to the full depth of the rootball.

Thanks!!

Even if it rains a newly planted shrub in full leaf needs a LOT of water.

Flood it long and deep. Hard to over water a hydrangea in hot weather.

Rachel , I'm curious how your hydrangea is doing now that its the end of August? we planted 8 of the same variety as yours at end of May and ours are doing horrible.

We ‘re in Excelsior Mn and have had lots of rain and heat, south exposure with periods of dappled shade. We water every day and focus the water at the rootball. We too have rocks around the base but did not put a ring of mulch around it as was suggested by another. Did you end up doing that and have you dug it up to look at the roots?

It actually started doing much better after i made sure to water it everyday regardless of rain. i did already have mulch around it so just pulled back the rocks more from my previous picture. I also gave it some more plant good a couple times.

A location that is exposed to a lot of sun is not ideal for any Hydrangea microphylla. Especially a southern exposure with afternoon sun. A much better siting is morning sun until around 1 pm, then mostly shade or at best, filtered sun.

And no rock mulch!! All that does is cook the roots and reflect heat back on the plant.

Regardless of the siting, a slow deep watering as often as necessary is also a requirement.