Mine haven't formed dead centers, so I am at a bit if a loss as to what to tell you. Glad you shared this as maybe it isn't as easy and carefree everywhere as it is here.

can we have a pic.. im not quite getting the word story ...

and not quite understanding what you are expecting.. with plants that have been in the ground for what.. a month????

ken

No problem with blocks of 'Georgia Blue', over numbers of years, here either. Just need to reduce them at the edges when they spreads out too far.

Now prefer more compact dwarf creeping Veronica 'Waterperry Blue' around/between rocks. Cut dead material off the rocks at the end of the growing season and it just spreads back over the next year.

Confusing also, as Ken indicates: "the largest and oldest", "they're all just first year plants"; hence, the rate of growth seems surprising.

I have this vague recollection that Georgia Blue does go through an awkward phase when the middle thins out. Then it starts growing again, and the middle fills in. It doesn't happen to self seeding plants, just the first ones you buy at the nursery. If you look at a potted one, you can often see this.

Just ignore it and it will go away.

I give them a haircut after they bloom, then they fill in nicely. Just did it this morning ;-).

Thank you everyone!

To clarify- by first year plant I meant they went into the ground last fall (2016, some early fall/some late fall hence "largest and oldest") and this is their first year coming up in the spring (2017). Between last fall, the warm spells during winter, and this spring they have grown quite a bit.

The following are three different plants in three different areas-

"I have this vague recollection that
Georgia Blue does go through an awkward phase when the middle thins out.
Then it starts growing again, and the middle fills in. It doesn't
happen to self seeding plants, just the first ones you buy at the
nursery. If you look at a potted one, you can often see this.

Just ignore it and it will go away."

Thanks, that made me feel better.

"I give them a haircut after they bloom, then they fill in nicely. Just did it this morning ;-)."

Should I be doing this? Like a tidy up/the odd tendril frequently (like petunias) or a real cut way back once annually (like grasses)?

Even if no one has any ideas about the centers browning I still don't know whether or not to trim/prune/do anything to these plants.

Wondering how things went. I have the same problem.