That brug is a PIA! I have had trouble with LM each year after overwintering it. It doesn't seem to overwinter well and seems especially tender compared to many of my other brugs.
AFter almost losing it a few times, I have learned to take extra cuttings in the fall. It gets root problems as well. I had some do the same thing as you mentioned.
It seems to like to be totally repotted after wintering or it grows slow. I had one in the ground and it did horrible while all the others around it did good. It ended up dying and luckily I had another one in a pot that is growing slowly. I probably need to repot it again.

Here are a couple shots of mine the when it still looked good lol
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I ended up leaving a couple of the buds on the cutting. If it doesn't appear to be rooting I'll pinch them. This one got hit with a hard freeze last fall so the entire plant died back. I just stuck it in with the others that were going dormant and wasn't sure if it was even still alive. It put out new growth in the spring but did grow much slower them most others. I hope this cutting survives. It figures that one is difficult because it's such a beautiful bloom.

I also trimmed the roots and stems of the old plant and repotted it just to see what happens. If the cutting makes it maybe I should keep it going in the greenhouse over the winter? BTW the roots all looked very healthy so it must be something in the stem that caused it to rot.

I had the stem on mine go hollow inside and the ants were coming out of it too. Mine died though.

The cutting I took is already putting out roots so that's a good sign. It's still holding the buds as well but they'll probably drop. I haven't taken a look at the original plant that I repotted. I dripped some neem oil into the dead stem where the ants were living. Hopefully that killed them but I don't think they had anything to do with the new growth getting soft. I think they just took up residence in the old dead stem.

Hope your LM keeps growing Karyn. That is such a beautiful brug as we can see with Lenette's. Definitely the right name for it!

I have the same problem with LM. It can be beautiful, then it wants to start rotting right @ the soil line. I've had 4 of them and I'm over it... LOL

Interesting that we've all had similar problems with that brug. I wonder what it is about it that's the problem? It's a shame that it's not a hardier plant. I just love the bi-color blooms.