Gardening with Allen: Cut back heat-damaged plants

The recent intense heat wave has left some of my flowers and shrubs with burned leaves and blooms. Should I cut them back or just remove the brown leaves and blooms? Is there some way to prevent damage if we have another heat wave?

The recent heat wave has indeed damaged a lot of plants. Container plants were the hardest hit followed by plants in the hottest locations. Rhododendrons and hydrangeas were two of the most damaged shrubs. I even noticed trees that were damaged.

I noticed a wide range of damage on a particular plant, David Viburnum which was planted on all sides of an apartment complex. Plants on the west and south sides had the most damage. Those on the east side had less damage while those on the north side had no damage. Many of the flower beds had their entire bloom burned along with some leaves.

Plants have a transpiration system similar to the perspiration system in animals. Water moves from the roots through the stems to the leaves. Water evaporates from pores in the leaves and flowers to cool them similar to the way our sweat cools us. This transpiration acts as a pump, bringing water up from the roots. The flowers and the new leaves are at the end of the system and are the first damaged if plants cannot provide enough water for cooling.