Perplexed about flowers on Satsuki

For the first time I can remember my satsuki (Kaho-no-homare) is experiencing what I think may be a problem, i.e. it is currently in flower and first thing in the morning the flowers are fully open and look o.k. In the evening the flowers are very droopy - no discoloration or indications of pests - just droopy. The foliage looks healthy. This is how the plant has been behaving for about a week or so, since the flowers first opened. Thoughts?

Regards,
Tom

Mine has been doing the same and is (in my case) simply a matter of lack of water. Here in the normally wet west of Scotland we have been experiencing a heat wave of sorts which some cynics might call a miracle! I have had to water all my azaleas at least twice daily - more often three times. It does the trick. It's also been flowering pretty constantly from mid-May right through and is only this week beginning to drop its flowers so the short periods of "drought and droop" have not done it any real harm. Hopefully I caught it well in time before that happened.

Good luck. Hope it's something as straightforward as that.

Fiona


BTW you can see my azalea on the Bonsai board - the Big Girl's Blouse Azalea post. It'll give you an idea of the kind of tree I'm talking about size-wise.

Hey Tom, hasn't it been extremely hot lately in your neck of the woods (I know they have had mid summer heat in Atlanta, GA for the past week or so)? Maybe it is a heat/water thing as has been suggested. Good luck, Dave

If the weather has been hot it's not unusual for the flowers to be droopy at the end of the day even if their roots have enough water. It has to do with the plants vascular system not being able to replenish the water in the flowers because the vascular system can't push enough water through the plant fast enough. This is very typical on water loveing plants and nothing to be overly concerned about as long as the plant is in good health. Often as soon and the heat of the day has gone the leaves and flowers will pick right up again as soon as they get enough water from the plant vascular system.

My thanks to you all...

Regards,
Tom