It is lovely to buy plants in full bloom – they have the ‘wow’ factor. By the look of the frantic e-mails we are getting, some of you are seriously under-estimating the amount of watering they need.
Plants in flower at least double their water requirements and if they are wilting even slightly on a frosty night they will take a lot of damage. We check the water every day on the nursery. Make sure the root ball is properly wet before you plant it; if it is dry it is almost impossible to get it wet again. Treat newly planted items as if they were still in pots until they are properly rooted out. A liquid feed will help.