Garden Pests and Diseases: White powder on and around bushes, 5 by emblue

emblue wrote:
I\'ve noticed some sort of a white powder on and around a few of the bushes in my landscaping bed (almost looks like the consistency of the crystalized chemical stuff you put down to prevent ice/melt ice in winter). The management office says they haven\'t done anything (no landscaping work, no pest or insect control), so I\'m stumped.

Does this look familiar? Could it be some sort of fungus or insect residue? It\'s on and around the bushes (I see it in the mulch in a ring around the 3 bushes -- not on or near any other plantings, though).

You can see 2 of the 3 bushes are currently dying -- a few years back, there were stinging insects in the ground between those 2, and the exterminator did something with a spray into the nest. The bushes have been dying since.

(Not sure why the landscapers cut huge chunks out of them, but they did that and then more died off, so now they\'ll be removing them.)

Thanks for any insights!