Texas Gardening: Plumbago problem?, 1 by collincountytx

collincountytx wrote:
Planted a plumbago early spring in ammended clay soil (1/5 compost + 3/5 landscape mix + 1/5 potting mix) Covered top with 1 inch of mulch. It is south facing and gets full sun 7 hours a day. The brick mail box does block some sun from 5pm to sundown. Once the night time temperatures were above 50 degrees it thrived. It then bloomed profusely on benevolent neglect and seemed to do best when the temperatures were over 100 degrees. I dead-headed regularly and watered only when the soil was dry (deep soak once every ten days) About two weeks ago, it completely stopped blooming and started sulking. I did some more aggressive dead heading and watered it a bit more frequently (every six days). Over the last two weeks, it hasn't bloomed once. It continues to sulk.

I've read that plumbago will occasionally rest. Is this what is going on?
I've also read of problems in clay soil.....but also read that it loves clay soil?
Is it a nutrient deficiency?
Any suggestions?

Picture taken at 6pm today. Wish I took a picture three weeks ago for comparison-it looked great.

This message was edited Aug 1, 2006 11:41 PM