That's unusual!
Did you perhaps put them out too early?
I can't offer advice, never having done it myself, but I think that's weird based upon what I've heard!

Someone will jump in. :)
Christine

Very often the roots formed in a water only situation cannot absorb enough from soil if you do an immediate transplant. One way around this is to make a very thin mud slurry as a first transfer, then a most earthy tranplant, which can be hardened off and dried to normal soil moisture content outside before final transplant into the garden. This problem of water rooting is why commerical producers root in moist seed staring mix, sand or vermiculite. I usually allow two-three weeks in each situation, mostly becuase I forget to do anything any sooner. Maybe a week at each stage would work?

Kim's got it. In pots, you can gradually get them used to less moisture before moving them to the ground.

I ripped out hundreds of forsythia this winter and would have been happy to have you take some! Actually, I still have too many and could dig some up and take to the spring swap if you want them. (Chopped down, so they're easy to transport.)

Hey Cynthia, I'll take some forsythia at the swap. Email me at Kim.Kaplan@ars.usda.gov and I'll send my (expect to) haves list.