Mexican Sage Bush lost all it's leaves in September

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gingisnaps Middleburg, FL(Zone 9a) Sep 30, 2011

Hi, I'm a new gardener and planted many mexican sage in May this year. I live in North Florida. I had beautiful folage through spring and summer but recently the leaves started falling off and now the branches are completely bare except for the new growth at the bottom of the bush. They have tons of beautiful flowers on top of the bare branches. I'm concerned that the new growth may be damaged during freezing temps that may kill the bush. I believe the problem was caused by too much water during the summer months because of sprinklers hitting them trying to grow newly seeded grass and then lately we've had a lot of rain. I have quite a bit of mushrooms growing in the flower beds. I also have many plants (cuphea, purslane, crape myrtle,loropetalum, geraniums, and shasta daisies) on one side of one of my flower beds that have either died, dying or hasn't grown as much as the other side of the bed. Could this be a fungus? I would greatly appreciate any advice to salvage the plants I have left. Thank you!

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themoonhowl Prairieville, LA(Zone 9a) Sep 30, 2011

Gingisnaps....if you could post a few pics it would be helpful....just add them as a reply to this post...one pic per post. Too much water and the presence of fungi doesn't bode well for plants that prefer drier soil. The Mexican Sage (Salvia leucantha) actually is so drought tolerant as to need NO additional watering....so that may indeed be your problem. It is hardy in your area so it should overwinter just fine.

http://www.plantanswers.com/arcadia_pages/plant_of_the_month/salvia_leucantha.htm

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gingisnaps Middleburg, FL(Zone 9a) Oct 01, 2011

Thanks for replying Moonhowl. This pic is actually the better side of the bed I was describing. I don't have any Mexican Sage on the other side. Even the crape myrtle has lost most of it's leaves. I did notice today that the Mexican sage has a lot of new leaves starting so hopefully it will look like the one in the link you posted one day. None of mine have ever looked that good. They have never been that green or full. The leaves have always been a little yellow and had dark spots on them.

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gingisnaps Middleburg, FL(Zone 9a) Oct 01, 2011

Here's a close up.

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