Leycesteria Golden Lantern is dying, Help!!

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Myst1 Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Aug 11, 2010

I am new at this landscaping thing and I need help. I have a small area in the back that gets morning and some afternoon sun. I have just planted this past July a Deutzia Chardonny Pearl, Elephant Ear and Leycesteria formosa 'Golden Lanterns'. The Deutzia and the Elephant Ear are doing great The Golden Lantern was a mail order plant about 8-10 inches tall. When the Golen Lantern arrived it looked great, I planted this right away in the ground with potting soil. Since last weekend tha plant has gone from doing good to O MY GOD, I am killing it. Please help, what am I doing wrong? I have cut back on the watering and also I have made some shade to see if that helps. The picture was taken when I first planted it about a month ago.
Thank you for your time,
Myst1

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flowAjen central, NJ(Zone 6b) Aug 11, 2010

Did you use potting soil or garden soil? Potting soil is just made for containers.
Reading the plant files http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56963/ info on Leycesteria formosa 'Golden Lanterns', says it should be planted in full sun and doesn't do well with too much shade

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Myst1 Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Aug 12, 2010

I used potting soil. I dug the hole wide and deep, just so it would take a while for the roots to get to clay. The plant gets a around 6 hours of sunlight. I was thinking about digging it up and planting it in a pot just to see if that would help. Not sure if it would or not. Do you have any suggestions?

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NatureLover1950 Vicksburg, MS(Zone 8a) Aug 12, 2010

I agree with flowerjen that potting soil is not a good choice for bedding plants. Garden soil would be much better and I'd recommend you mix it with your clay so the plant can get used to the circumstances it will have. When you plant it as you described, it creates a bowl effect where the water will sit in the potting soil but not soak into the clay so you are risking slowly rotting the plants roots.

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Myst1 Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Aug 12, 2010

That is probably what I am doing, So I think tonight I will dig it up to see if I can save it. I also was reading more on this web site and I found that where I bought it was not a good place. But it looked very healthy when I received it. Thanks for the advice and I will keep you posted and hopefully it will bounce back.

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