Question
Nick,

Several of my neighbors have been donating plants for us to landscape our new home. A lot of them are withering or at least drooping despite watering several times a day and a good rain yesterday. I realize they may be traumatized, but should I cut them back to the soil and hope they sprout new growth right now or allow them to be dormant and see what happens? I have planted four o'clocks, cannas, dusty miller, lavendar, yarrow, salvia, sweet potato vine, coleus, catnip, celosia, cleome, to name a few.

Thanks for any suggestions for HELP!

Answer
Hi Marsha, watering them won't stop the transpiration (plant equivalent to evaporation), they plants are losing moisture faster the roots can uptake and replace; what you need to do to stop this, is keep the plants in a shady area until they recoup and try to keep them hydrated by misting and spraying the foliage. If you try to compensate by watering constantly you will rot the roots before any help will manifest itself on the crown. Whatever is completely wilted at this point probably won't come back, but new growth should level off if you follow this lead...:)Nick