The other day, my 11 year old brother watered our flower beds at about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and it was a horribly hot day. Ever since then, our pansies looked, well, bad. They aren't standing up any more, they look as though some one trampled through them. The flowers themselves look terribly weak, some with their colors fading and some of the others wilting away. My father said they have been fried by the sun and now I'm not sure what to do about them.

Then about the ivy, we have two kind in our yard: English Ivy and Curly Ivy. The curly ivy has been doing bad from the start, and the english ivy is taking a turn for the worse. The curly ivy is turning brown in what I describe as patches, and the english ivy is turning brown at the base of the plant and bottom leaves. We water the flower beds every other night at about 8 or 9 at night with a hand held garden spray. Are we not watering enough or are we watering too much? We can't think of what it could be.

If you have advice on either of our situations, we would greatly appreciate it. Other than these, every thing else is doing great.

My pansies are not doing well either. I think it is just too hot for them. They are a cool weather plant. I think they will take off again when it cools off some. No words on the ivy, have never grown it. Luck B-)

Maybe, thanks though.

I just knew somebody wuld pick up on this one real easy......Its getting way too hot for the pansies.....and spraying them when it is hot in the middle of the day is a big no no....They will probably not recover very well.........The ivy needs to be watered in the morning and do not get water on the leaves ....this makes them very unhappy....(wow what an easy way out)try this and see what the ivy does in a couple of weeks......p.s. dont water every day....just a good soakinig about every two or three days or when the soil get dry to about one inch...hope this helps

Thank you so much, I'll try the watering of the ivy in the morning, see if it works out.

I would add that your're better off spray watering (as opposed to soaker hoses or drip systems) [u]all[/u] plants in the morning. When you water at night, the water tends to stay on the plants longer, making them susceptible to fungus and other diseases. If you spray them in the a.m., then the sun and heat of the day have a chance to evaporate the water on the plants. That helps prevent diseases that need moisture to spread and thrive. That is also a big reason why soaker hoses and drip systems are so beneficial.

Thank you. I appreciate the help. One of the curly ivy plants look as though it's just about had it. The others are starting to look better though. Thanks

Watering at night also encourages the slugs out to play. Best to water early in the morning before it gets too hot - gives the water a chance to get down to the roots.