Friends I come to you again to help me with what is wrong with my plant. The plant is not 6 months old and it was green and as you can see the plant seems to be dying. I watered it and it started looseing leaves so I cut back and it seems to be getting worse. The tag on the plant says medium light and moist soil. I did have the plant in direct sunlight so now it is inside most of the time except in the early morning. The yellow flowers I have no idea what type of plant it is. One picture shows the other end of balcony. We are going to the 2nd heat wave for this Spring so sleep cool. ed
Ed, the plant is a fern, an "understory" plant that likes shade. Cut off the brown parts, keep it moist but not soggy wet, and put it where it will be in the shade. "Medium light" isn't very descriptive--when you encounter a tag that says that, consider the plant to be a shade lover.
Thanks for your info as I had it in full sun and I wasn't sure. But it is in shade now. Any idea what causes my yellow plant wilt in sunshine. ed
Looks like the planter is not deep enough. Try watering it more often to see how it does, but I myself would move it to a larger pot.
The yellow is a Gerbera jamesonii (Gerber Daisy, Barberton Daisy) It might be one of the cultivars but that really doesn't make any difference in how to take care of it. Click on blue link for more information from our GardenStew plant database.
The fern: I concur 100% with Marling. It looks like it has had a serious bout with dryness. When you clip out all the dead stems and remove some of the more damaged leaves...that plant may look a bit scraggly, but it will soon begin making more fronds and then ought to begin looking its old self again. The Gerbera: I have found this type of plant difficult to deal with in the past. LI's analysis may be spot on. Factors like box depth and soil moisture, I really cannot comment on without seeing it in person and sticking my finger into the soil. As I said I find this type of plant finicky and therefore, I personally do not have a lot of patience with. It is so peculiar that that wilting posture that it has taken can come from dryness, heat or over-watering. The plant always keeps one guessing and sometimes reacts in a manner that is not expected. From this distance I could only suggest that you fiddle with it and try chanfing the status quo--for example if the flower box seems too dry, give a bit more water...if it seems too moist. --hold back on watering. LI's suggestion to move it to another container will certainly be worth a try if you want to keep this plant and nothing else works...but then you will need something to fill the space left when you remove the gerbera from its place. Eregeron sorts would be a good replacement. Good luck with this stubborn plant.
The way the flowers are drooping I would guess that they are not getting enough sun. Being a native of South Africa they do tend to like hot and sunny more than some of the northern climates can easily provide. Mine get watered when Mother Nature sees fit to send rain my way so they get no supplemental water during the Summer. They bloom in spurts for me, not continuously but every few weeks there will be a new flush of beautiful blooms and then nothing but the leaves for a while. I have a very large Gerbera in the ground and a smaller one in a pot and both get morning shade with afternoon full sun. And being in Texas, trust me, they get hot sun when it they get it and very warm temps even in the shade of morning. The leaves of the one in the ground stay green all year round even in the light snow we have every few Winters and the one in the pot dies back to the ground in Winter but comes back strong the next Spring.
