Blue shadow fothergilla
I purchased a Blue Shadow fothergilla a couple of weekends ago. Its blue foliage was perfect at the time, but as you can see in the attached photos it is already turning plain green.Can you offer any guidance as to what causes that color loss (e.g., too little light? too much? moisture? soil pH? etc.)? If I have sited it wrong, I'd like to move it soon to save the color. Please help if you can. Philadelphia, PA
Answer
Dear Gardener,
It may be your 'Blue Shadow' Fothergilla is just getting adjusted to your garden. It grows best in moist, well drained humusy rich soils in full sun to part shade. The best foliage color is in part shade, so perhaps your plant is getting too much sun. It naturally grows as a woodland edge plant. Also, new growth emerges green but turns to a powdery blue pretty quickly. Lastly, the recent heavy rains may have washed away some of its blueness, as often happens with glaucous plants. I would give it some time.