Plants take a few days to adjust to changes in weather. After a spell of overcast days, when the sun comes out, everybody wilts in the afternoon. Then they adjust their rate of water loss and stop doing that. So don't overdo the shade. The plants need to know what they are up against in summer.

Nitrogen fertilizer and erratic water supply can contribute to those burnt edges, but it could just be the heat and low humidity as you say. Wind is also a factor in water loss.

I use deck chairs to partially shade plants after transplanting, if that is necessary.

100 plus degrees the last three days. I hand water the babies every day. New leaves on Peace fried. Sooner or later the fog will be back and things will cool off. Dead heading is going to have to wait.

In cases of extreme heat as we're having, dead heading should be the last thing on your mind. Do nothing to stimulate anything other than surviving. Providing the shade while maintaining decent air flow is good, Andrea. Blocking that air flow can easily cook them, while retaining that air circulation can help them endure. Grouping your pot ghetto together so the cans help shade one another and any surrounding plants help shade the unshaded sides of the outer cans helps considerably to reduce the soil temps in them. If your community permits it (some don't due to water restrictions now), and you can safely accomplish it, hosing off the foliage later when the temps begin dropping can help greatly. Particularly any climbers against hot walls or bushes planted too closely to hot hard scape will enjoy the refreshing, cooling, hydrating shower. Keeping deal foliage, petals and other debris rinsed out of their interiors will also help reduce insect infestations. Try it. I think it will surprise you how quickly they respond with new foliage and even canes, once they have enough resources to use for anything more than surviving. Kim

I have pieces and scraps of shade cloth (Home Depot) that have lasted for years and cycle endlessly between blackberry patch (to prevent cooked berries during that season) and young rose bushes and other new transplants. Light, airy, can attach to bamboo stakes or whatever with clothespins to make a tent.

I also suggest sun fabric. I have a hoop house raised bed garden for my daylilies - I stuck small pieces of rebar in the ground [get at Lowes] then bend pieces of PVC to the height you want from one rebar to the other. Then, cut your sun screen fabric to the size you want and zip tie it to the PVC. If you have alot of hoops, run a cord to stabilize them at the top from end to end. This was really easy to make! My bed is in full, all day sun and I am going to put the fabric back on when the daylilies finish blooming to protect from the blazing July and August sun. I would suggest the sunscreen fabric over the sheets. It works great.
Judith

Michael,
I will get my whip out and tell them to shape up or ship out! After they are more than 12 days in the ground.

My established bed is doing a lot better. Both beds get watered very regularly but I will take care about the Nitrogen. Thanks..

Steve,
My Peace new foliage is also fried and deadheading has been on hold. Thanks

Kim,
I am maintaining airflow...I cook and I know the difference in cooking with a lid on or off. But I don't have a pot ghetto, all babies are in the ground. And I have been giving them all a little shower in the evening but I will make sure that all dead foliage is cleaned out. As always, hugs for your help.

Catspa and Alameda,
Shade cloth sounds like a perfect idea. Especially if they are connected to stakes allowing full air flow. I would only expect this to be necessary when I have new plants. The older ones are weathering it (sorry for the pun) fine.

Thanks again,

andrea

Andrea, yes, I only provide shade cloth the first season to the ones that seem to need it -- after that, it's sink or swim for roses or any other plant -- I don't grow wimps. HT Sir Henry Seagrave (a slow starter on his own roots) was the sunburn champion of all time last year (first year in ground), so I shaded him during hot spells; this year he is fine.

Thanks again catspa.

andrea

Here in one of the lands of extreme heat ( Las Vegas... cooler today at 114 degrees in the city), we do not fertilize after May, deep water via drip irrigation or if you are using the hose, set it to a trickle and let it go; use a timer, watch it of course. Water very early in the morning or at night after the sun goes down. My plants are watered at 5 a.m. and since I have no lawn, there is no second watering after 8 p.m. or so. These were the most ideal times to water even before the various drought restrictions.

I keep my potted baby bands in spots where they get dappled shade in the afternoon, as well as clustering them together and using stuff to keep the black plastic out of the sun. It has been working quite well and my newest bands from Vintage are all thriving in this heat.

First, peachymomo,
I don't have ANY potted plants. When I said that I bought potted plants, I only meant that they were potted when I bought them. They are all now planted in the ground. One bed is raised, but still raised over dirt. (I had the concrete removed) But thanks for your interest.

desertgarden,
I water my plants very early in the am BY HAND. They are deeply watered. I am glad to know that this is the way to water them in the heat also.

catspa and alameda,
I just finished hanging the shade cloth that I purchased one hour ago. This was a GREAT idea and I feel better just looking at it.

Kim,
I had an extra piece of cloth that I used to shade Pristine and her new growth....

Thanks to you all.

andrea

Kim, I have restrained myself and done no deadheading as you suggested. I will wait until the temps are lower.

And catspa and alameda, The shade cloth is wonderful. After another day at 100 and no clouds, I just looked at the new babies and they look great. No burned or wilted leaves.

Thanks all again,
andrea

I don't know for how long I should discontinue deadheading. Just till this heat wave is over for longer?

andrea

That's completely up to you, Andrea. If it's too hot for you to comfortably go out to dead head, let them be. They've existed forever before us and will likely outlive us. They may not conform as well to our artificial sense of "beauty" with dead flowers on them, but they will survive.

Ideally, it's during the worst of the heat. But, again, it depends upon what you can "give yourself permission" to do. I have a very dear friend who tends to overload herself. She sets (in my opinion) unrealistic goals for each gardening (and other) day. Often, it would take a crew of workers to accomplish what she's set for herself to do. When she "fails", she tends to be pretty hard on herself. I admit, I've done that to myself, also and I find many others who also tend to follow that pattern. Guess what? You don't HAVE to. Set goals, by all means, but make them realistic. If it's too hot to dead head, don't. If you would benefit more from soaking in a cool tub instead of sweating in the garden dead heading, go soak. As long as the garden is going to survive, it doesn't HAVE to look "perfect" all the time. It's only WE who see it as less than perfect. Passers by see the riot of color, the tapestry of textures and most don't even know to look for anything we find "imperfect". If those plants were out "in the wild", no one would be removing the spent flowers. We do to appeal to our artificial sense of beauty and perfection, and to push them to repeat their bloom. The plants don't actually require it. Do what you can permit yourself to do, at least during the worst of the conditions. Kim

Kim,

I didn't really make myself clear....I was only asking if deadheading in this heat was good for the roses. I'm afraid that I fall into your friend's category. I make goals for myself and generally complete them.

No problem deadheading early in day when it's not so hot. Now, putting up the shade cloth was a chore!

In the middle of this reply, I just ran out and deadheaded the babies. Also, remember that I have only 13 bushes, so it's not really a big deal.

Thanks and have a lovely 4th.

andrea

Thank you, Andrea. Happy Fourth to you, and everyone else, too. Extreme spikes stress everything. If it's the same old, same old summer stuff, go for it. I figure if it's a good time for me to rest, they probably won't mind one, either. Kim