This struck the Asters, Spirea and Daisies in mid-spring. Threw them away and started trying to find an answer as to what it is. Nothing else seemed to be infected until late last month, I started noticing the yellow spots starting on other plants then overnight the Cardoon looked like it had been toasted. Any ideas as to what it is? I talked to someone at a local nursery, she suggested it could be Leaf Spot. Bacterial or Fungal I am loosing pretty much everything in the bed I made last spring on the north side of the driveway. Beginning of the disease ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) Dead Cardoon ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) Maximillian Sunflowers, the Cardoon, Cosmos, Lemon Verbena, Obedient Plant, Lemon Balm, Glads, Indigo Spires Salvia, Vervain, Blanket Flower, Milkweed, Snapdragons, Malva, Mexican Mint Marigold all need to be pulled up and thrown away. The Rosemary, Rock Rose, Canna and Artemesia don't appear to be infected......yet and I am really afraid that it will hit the Hollyhocks too. Pulling them up will happen soon, but scraping off the mulch and digging in horticultural Cornmeal will have to wait until the weather cools off and we have some rain to loosen up the hard black clay. I think after that I am going to cover the area with black plastic and new mulch and let it solarize for a few months, maybe not plant in it until fall of next year. We got some NEEM oil to spray everything else with, including the main garden, in hopes of preventing it from showing up south of the driveway where the main garden is that I have been working this year.
Oh Gosh toni I've never seen that before.I sure hope you find someone that knows what it is and what you can do for it.
Sure sounds like it could be something in the soil of that new bed. You don't have any Black Walnut trees nearby do you (they emit toxins into the soil that kills a lot of plants)? Or possibly the soil is contaminated with an herbicide or ??? You say it's near a driveway...do you salt in the winter? If so, that will kill oodles of plants. Please let us know if you find out the culprit.
Toni that is horrible. :twisted: You have worked your buns off to move things, replant, plant, etc. and to have this happen. I am so sorry and I hope you find out what the problem is.
Walnut trees don't grow down here. We have lived here 22 years and have never used an herbicide, neither have our neighbors. We don't get any winter weather that warrants putting ice on the driveway, if it gets icy we don't go anywhere From what I have read the bacteria or fungus can come from just about anywhere, blown in, brought in by birds or squirrels and can be transmitted from there to other parts of the garden even on the bottom of my shoes. Which means, great I just might have a major problem. :-x I figure I had best put any fall plant ordering on hold until I see how the rest of the plants fair over the next couple of months.
I'm so sorry all you hard work is getting ruined by this Fungus Toni. I had a similar issue at work this year with Impatiens ~ I had planted almost 30 flats total around the property and they ALL died from a fungus. I inquired where I bought the flowers and they said it was a fungus that originated where they bought the plugs and it spread. Did you buy all these plants at the same place Toni?
Awww Toni what a thing to happen after all the hard work you put into making that bed too. I think the source of the problem was probably already in the soil or on some of the plants, that you bought. The ones, you transplanted from other parts of the garden shouldn't have caused the damage as they were all healthy before they were situated in the new bed. I hope you can save your hollyhocks and that no more plants get infected.
Oh, my. Such a shame. I feel so sorry for you and your plants, Toni. And all you work too. Sometimes gardening is just not fun at all. Good luck with getting rid of whatever it is.
So sorry for the loss of your garden, Toni. It's so frustrating after investing so much into them. I lost several Phlox, I think because they were in full sun. I try to provide some shade with taller plants, but doesn't always work. Hope you can rid yourself of that awful fungus!
I did the first spraying of NEEM oil last night on all the plants, infected or not. I know the infected ones will die soon but I just hate the thought of pulling them up yet, some are still blooming. We were really busy over the weekend so I didn't have much time to mourn for my plants, but I did go thru the regular this time of year pity party....'why do I even try to garden when the weather turns on me every year July thru Sept' sort of thing. Then yesterday it really hit me, how much I am loosing out there. I let myself mourn and today I have started thinking about how I can change the plantings out there next year, correct some of the placement mistakes I made, etc.
