The Garden Community for Garden Lovers

What is wrong with my Scabious?

jan65

By Jan65

North East England, United Kingdom Gb

This was planted two years ago and has done very well up to now. Earlier this year it was a beautiful, healthy, green plant, and has had masses of flowers. It still has lots of flowers and buds still to open, but the foliage is looking terrible. It has turned silvery green and looks almost dead or dying at the base. Any ideas what is wrong with it? It's Scabiosa Butterfly Blue.



Scabius

Answers

 

it looks like it has mildew. this can be treated with a fungicide.

24 Jun, 2009

 

Thanks Seaburngirl - I was wondering whether to cut everything back to see if it shoots off again, would you advise me to do this too? Or just spray with fungicide? I'm loath to lose the colour of the flowers in the border, but the foliage does look awful.

24 Jun, 2009

 

Fungicide spray, as seaburngirl says. I'd recommend you get Roseclear 3 and mix it up yourself - think its double dose when there's a bad infection like this, and it works better than the premixed ones anyway. You'll need to buy a sprayer though.

24 Jun, 2009

 

Thank you for the confirmation Bamboo, much appreciated. I already have a sprayer, so will get the fungicide sorted.

24 Jun, 2009

 

I think they like an alkaline soil in which case a dressing of lime might help.

25 Jun, 2009

 

Thank you Pennyfarthing - I must confess, shock horror, that I have never tested my soil so don't know whether it's acid or alkaline. It is very clay-y (is that a word?), does this indicate anything?

25 Jun, 2009

 

Well, I haven't have any luck with scabious on thick clay here and although I've never personally tested the soil, I'm told it's pretty neutral to acid round here. Wild scabious grows happily on the South Downs, which are chalk, so I would work on that theory!

26 Jun, 2009

How do I say thanks?

Answer question

 


Not found an answer?