Persian Shield

I planted a Persian shield a month ago in a large pot on my front step that gets INTENSE sun from noon till sunset. In the pot are purple verbena and dusty miller, both of which are flourishing through watering copiously daily and fertilizing weekly.  The Persian shield flourished too, and was beginning to grow taller, when suddenly, I looked out 2-3 hours after watering that morning and the plant was totally dried up. What could have happened? I thought that was a very hardy plant.

I have found that Persian shield tends to do better if it gets morning sun and afternoon shade.  While some catalogs list it as a full sun plant, that isn't true in our hot climate.  When it is exposed to full afternoon sun it often tends to get a bit of a sunburn.  Those planted in morning sun or filtered sun, stay the wonderful dark purple color and flourish up until frost.  It also likes to be kept evenly moist - so if it dried out and was exposed to the full sun, that could explain its early demise. However dying within two hours, sounds to me like it could possibly have been broken off at the pot line?

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