What kind of trees are around the garden? Are there any Black Walnuts?

No trees in that garden at all. I used to have two hawthornes...but they are long gone...it was a bad spot for them. It's basically a strip with sidewalk on either side of it.

Robin

I am not a bug expert - but might there be grubs or something at the roots? Or some kind of fungus in the soil? Maybe you could dig next to one of the affected plants and see if anything looks odd down under.

The paranoid part of me says "Focus a security camera on that bed and see who is doing things to it!"

matriarchy...I am leaning toward fungus. The same spot/same plant variety did the same thing last year. So I am going to treat the soil for fungus and when I replant move it over a bit and hope for the best!

I'm with you on the camera! It's too weird that it's invariably one of 6...!

Robin

Hi Robin,

Is you soil healthy? Do you incorporate organic matter in the soil. What do you fertilize with? I'm asking you these questions because I had an organic nursery for 18 years and so many people came to me with this question and 9 out or 10 times it's the soil. If the soil is healthy only good bugs will be there.

Hi herblady...well, it's loamy, although it has shale bc of where we live. Used to be farmland before they developed on it in the 70's. Then they put in grass. When I landscaped the front several years back I dug loads of humus from the garden center and some old leaves I had mulched over in plastic bags for a couple of years into that bed...but I had a perennial planting in there that pretty much exhausted the soil over a period of several years I think even though it was still nice and black and friable.

Last year when we did a big landscaping I dug in peat and composted mushroom soil (it was still pretty fragrant so I worried a bit that it might burn but it turned out to be ok). The mushroom soil makes me worry it's fungus...but I would think I would see it affecting other plants right around it (it's a grouping of 6 echinacea with 6 rudbeckia next to it).

In general I am not a big fertilizer. I do natives where possible and typically they don't like/need a lot of fertilizer. I DO fertilize my rhodies/mountain laurel and use hollytone for that. (My soil is slightly acidic to begin with but I like a yearly hollytone). And I DO fertilize my perennials like the coneflowers, the geraniums, the coreopsis etc and typically use Miracle Gro if and when I do it but I am casual about when. I've used organic fertilizer in the past...with blood meal and fish emulsion and stuff but it drove my dogs crazy and they wouldn't let the flower garden alone. All my training was for naught! .

Would love to hear what you think!
Robin

Hi Robin, Sounds like your doing everything right. This might be another solution. Because I use alot of organic components in my garden which makes the soil acidic, I have to lime my soil ever year. I have seen this perform miracles in customers perennial beds. But this will be a problem if you grow acid loving plants in the same area. A good organic fertilizer for your flowers is Plant Tone.

Thanks for the advice! I might just do a wee soil test again now that I have amended and it sat there for a year. I also appreciate the tip on the organic fertilizer. I like to use as few chemical products as possible. My husband got me hooked on a no chemicals program (coincidentally I guess, he works for DEP in air quality but water quality is his first love) and I am an avid convert. I'll be hunting it down. Thanks!

Robin

Years ago I had a demonstration herb garden, and in the medicinal bed, I could never get the echinacea to grow. I thought someone was coming and stealing it, but then I SAW the devil rabbit eat it down to the ground. This doesn't explain the problem with the brown wilt, but if buds go missing I would suspect some type of animal eating it, they are popular!

I also could never get feverfew to grow. My mom has a huge plant outside her driveway. I wouldn't suspect insects with the leaves turning brown, but some type of disease being in the soil is possible. I know a lot of plants like sandy soil, but it sounds like you've been working a lot on your beds to get the soil in good condition. I have to add sand to my nasty clay.

I had the same problem with a new Monarda that I put in this spring. Everything was fine, it was growing well and one by one, the stems started to wilt. And after wilting for a few days, they turned brown and died. I watched them go, one by one, and when I got to the last two, I cut off the tops and took cuttings. Both cuttings rooted are in pots, growing nicely. When we dug out the main plant, not much was left of the roots. The one tiny part of root that still looked alive, I planted in the veggie garden, where we have the absolute best soil. The root has sprouted a few leaves and seems to be growing. I removed the soil from the original area and replanted with another perennial, which is doing just fine. I am of the opinion that I had a "wilt" caused by a fungus of some kind. This has also happened to some pansies that I had in pots last spring, and also this spring. One of them even died in the six pack, wilting and dying before I planted it out! I wish I knew what was killing these plants.

Linda

I decided to google something simple...like diseases of echinacea. I came across this page...very informative! And I believe my problem is Sclerotinia Stem and Root Rot.

Links below. If you've been having echinacea trouble you might want to check it out!
Robin

Here is a link that might be useful: Diseases of Echinacea