Sweet William Dying

Last year got a free flat, didnt know what it was and they just filled out all green, (biannual, I have found out now) this year beautiful display of colors- but all the sudden some have turned brown and are dying all the way to the root. Plenty of sun, right soil, and right watering. I'm wondering about disease. Any advice?

Sum~ Can you provide a picture?...Did you shear them after most of the blooms faded. If not, it's not too late. Shearing the top 1/3 - 1/2 will rejuvenate them and reward you with another flush of blooms. The blooms might be smaller, but just as lovely and when the new blooms are faded repeat the same process (but this time less than a third of the growth) for another round of blooms. Also pruning dying, browning leaves will rejuvenate them as well.

Hi there, thanks for the info pic 1 here is of a dying one

Pic 2, a dead one, probably long gone then

3 and final, these might be salvageable

Only things I can think of are either they're drying out from not enough water, or something is chewing on the roots (voles, gophers, etc) Whenever I have plants that look like that it's always one of those two things that is to blame. I'm sure there are other things that can cause it too, just in my own experience those are the two main culprits.

Sum~ did your sweet william suffer a late freeze? Either way, I would remove the dying brown leaves and clean up the area, Thinning the shoots and shearing the plants back as suggested above will rejuvenate them. In pic #2, I would cut the plant down to the ground, it may surprise you and return. You can allow a few of the blooms to go to seed and reseed for you in the garden to bloom next year, or you if you prefer you can collect the seeds for wintersowing, or save to sow next Spring. Hope that helps and perhaps another gardener will jump in with more insights and suggestions. BTW, BOUQUETS and a big welcome to Dave's!! ;0)

Thanks so much for all your help. Really happy I found this site!!!!

You're welcome!! Let us know how your sweet williams rebound. ;0)

A couple of things come to mind: #1, dig down a few inches and see how wet the soil is. It looks like they are rotting. #2, the crown of the plant (where the green part meets the roots, should be above the soil level and open to the air. Crown rot can kill really easy if the plants are planted too deep with soil covering or crowding the crown, or mulch is too close, covering or crowding the crown. If the crown stays wet, it rots the plant from the inside out.

Just a couple of thoughts.

and i think sweet william is prone to rot.

Thank you very much for the excellant information. I have now cut these back and found yes part of the problem to be overwatering. We were watering directly into the crown and they were rotting. Some of the plants had new leafs forming, will see how many survive.

Great gardening Sum... where we all learn something new everyday! ;0)