My yard, which was never in great form, is a complete disaster with this extended dry hot weather. I'm in Nashville, TN, Zone 7, clay soil with cruddy subdivision fill dirt over it, and the other areas limestone with cruddy subdivision fill dirt. Azaleas do poorly for me, even when not stressed by so much dry, and I've given up on most of my azaleas. For a partly shady area, (foundation planting), who's got suggestions for something that is more likely to survive abuse, like something a bit more native? Up to 3 feet tall would be fine, as the height difference between the azaleas and the mountain laurels looks a little silly. For the record, my crape myrtles, despite being wacked by our hard late spring frost, are doing great, without any watering (sunnier area), and the mountain laurels (same area as the azaleas) are also doing well, although I have watered them a bit recently.
Next and last question - I have some oakleaf hydrangeas by the side of the house (even shadier area) that are always abused from lack of water (much more inconvient location to water), so they are scraggly and poorly filled out. I want to keep them however, as they look so nice when doing well. When should I prune them to encourage a bushier growth? If it started to rain soon, would it be awful to prune them then, because we will have lots more warm weather to follow?
Thanks.