Hello,
We put in a lot of new landscape plants with 2 of them being the little lime light hydrangea trees the last week of July.
It has been hot! and we also got a large amount of storms with lots of rain! (West TN)
We have irrigation running each morning, and all the plants are doing fine, EXCEPT for these 2 trees!! They are in opposite locations in the yard but each started drying up it seemed. I suspected root rot b/c of the heat and then the amount of rain we got a few times. I had read that sometimes when dry and then too much water this can occur. I dug them up today and found that the roots were wet while the plant looks like dying based on leaves and blooms shriveling up.
However, I do not smell rot , nor can I see slimy roots ?? So Does that mean that it's possible to save them??
One tree was planted in a brand new bed with 3 newly planted gardenia shrubs and a pencil holly , and they seem to be fine.
The other tree is in a bed that already had a small dogwood tree and a rose bush and limelight hydrangea bush in it. Also, we removed old bushes that had been in this bed for 20 years! They were removed b/c of looks from just being old and serving their time.. in other words, things have grown just fine in this bed. ... so it just seems weird that these others are making it okay, but not these new Little limelights!
We do tend to have clay soil. We used a tiller and built it up with new good soil but my husband said he wonders if it's still too much clay and now acting like a tub holding the water. ??? (honestly, that would just be about the new bed tho, since the other bed has had bushes growing for years) It's very hot right now and I know they are probably stressed but still making it !!

these 2 limelight trees are only ones that are not !! ?? PLEASE help if you can!

Welcome to the site!

Moving your question to the Hydrangea forum.

Welcome to NGA, KathyGam. I could not guess exactly how much water you gave them since I am not there to see it. But here are some guidelines:

When to water: insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" (or try moisture meters at that depth), the typical depth of new hydrangea roots, to see if the soil is either dry, moist or soggy. Test almost daily in the mornings in the first 2-3 summers. Water the soil -never the leaves- as soon as the soil is almost dry or dry. Maintain the soil mulched with 3-4" of organic mulch (no rock mulch) past the estimated width at maturity on the plant label. Do not water if the soil is already moist before starting to water. Water in the morning (6-8am) so no leaves spend a long time wet overnight.

Water sufficiently: Hydrangeas need copious amount of water in the summer but not on a long term basis as they can get root root. After waiting for the water to percolate, periodically insert a finger to a depth of 8" to ensure the soil is moist; if it is soggy, consider watering less or waiting more for the soil to drain some more; if the soil at that depth is dry, use more water.

Root rot: a typical symptom is wilting of leaves that occurs 24/7 including a few hours after watering in the mornings. A dingle incident of overwatering should not cause root rot. If properly hydrated, the trees should still be wilted daily during the worst/hottest part of the day in the summer. Wilting is promoted, amongst other things, by high temperatures and windy conditions common by the trees' planting locations. Temperatures above 85F will make the foliage lose leaf moisture faster than the roots can absorb more water but if the soil is kept evenly moist, never dry nor soggy, the leaves perk up at night once temperatures recede. When planted in the landscape by themselves, the winds -even slow winds- can help desiccate the foliage so soil humidity monitoring is important until they develop a larger root system. Hydrangea roots are at first tiny, fibrous and very shallow so monitor the top soil humidity, use mulch, and try not to disturb the roots much.

Keep the trees staked for 2-3 years as the root system is still small and they are top heavy.