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New Flowerbed - Everything is dying!

MrandmrsraeMrandmrsrae Posts: 3
in Problem solving
Hello!

I have recently created and planted up a new flowerbed in my garden since moving to my new house. I have planted it up with a few perennials, lupins, delphiniums, fuschias, lavender etc but NOTHING is growing. In fact my Leucojum is dying, my delphiniums are dying, one of my fuschias is almost dead and both of my foxgloves have died too.

The border is in full sun from around 10am till about 3pm - could this be why? Is it too hot?
I water every evening - Am I watering too much or not enough?
I have mulched it recently with bark chippings and that seems to be helping keep the soil cool and moist but nothing is picking up. 

I have a rose and a euphorbia which were already established when I moved in which are doing great so I know the soil can't be the problem right? I also have a shrub which I have identified as Mexican heather which is growing but has only produced 2 flowers, any idea why?

I don't know what to do, I am considering digging up the struggling plants and bringing them inside while it's so hot and maybe putting them back out when they are big enough to cope with the sun? Could it be that they were just too small to cope with the sun?

Any advice would be great as I waited SO long for these plants to be delivered during the lockdown and it's so sad that everything is dying :(

Thanks!
Anna
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Posts

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    edited June 2020
    Hello Anna  :)
    I know fuschias in particular prefer some shade especially around midday, it may well be that you have been unlucky with this long spell of warm/hot weather. If they are small plants, it could have been too much too soon. Did they have good root systems when you planted them out? 
    A couple of photos might help us to give some reasons behind it. Don't despair quite yet.
    Whereabouts in the UK are you ? Just a general region will do. 
  • MrandmrsraeMrandmrsrae Posts: 3
    Hi AnniD

    Thanks for replying! I am in the East Middlands and it has been SO hot! I don't have any shade to plant the fuschia, my garden is in full sun all day which is lovely for sunbathing...not so great for plants.

    Do you think it would be good for them to come inside for a bit and grow a bit more? I have a conservatory they can grow in? Although I know the weather is supposed to be turning miserable soon!

    I will try and get some photos tomorrow!

    Anna Rae
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    Can you post a picture?
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Hello Anna, it may sound daft but I have sometimes propped an umbrella or anything suitable over plants which are suffering in very hot sunny weather so you could try that tomorrow - even a bit of cardboard propped up temporarily would do. Delphiniums, foxgloves, lupins and fuchsias like a lot of water, but not lavenders. Delphiniums (depending on the size) will take a whole watering can full on their own. I wouldn't dig them up again and move them indoors as they probably wouldn't survive but don't give up hope just yet.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I'd hang fire for now Anna, if you have something that you can use to shade them like Lizzie has suggested, that will help. The cooler weather will also help, although it's possible that the shock of a wind direction from the North/North East might stress them even more. 
    It may well be that, as Phillipa says, they have been sent out without being hardened off properly,  and that together with the stress of being transplanted and the hot weather is just too much.
    Looking forward to your photos,  hopefully we can save some, if not all of them.  :)
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I wonder if you bought a pack of plug plants from somewhere by mail order and put them straight out in the bed? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    All of my delphiniums are in full sun, it depends on the size of the plant as to how well it will cope. I keep them in pots for the first year so they grow on into big plants before putting them out. They can cope better with weather conditions and slugs. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    Maybe the new plants weren't hardened off?  Did you plant them as soon as you got them from the garden center?  Were they outside or in a sheltered space there?  
    Utah, USA.
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    You mention that you ordered them. Were they very small plants in little pots? I find some of these just aren't strong enough to go straight into garden borders in hot weather. They need to be potted up and grown on a bit first. Indeed, I don't wish to be controversial, but I believe that commercial growers ought to give more honest information, in some cases. They show a picture of a fabulous plant in full flower, probably three years old, and send out a cutting only just rooted. No wonder so many die.
  • MrandmrsraeMrandmrsrae Posts: 3
    Most of them were 9cm pots I think, the only plugs I got were geraniums and they are flourishing! The larger pots I got which were the achifolia appleblosom and the leucojum...both are dying or at least look like they are.

    I planted everything straight away as I worried everything would die after being in the post and it all looked healthy, the fuschias were huge but most of the plants were very pot bound...do you think that could have effected them? I also have some thistles too, they aren't doing well either. 

    Do you think I may have planted it all too late? I think it would have all been a lot happier back in april with the cooler weather.

    I'm thinking I may just have to accept that I won't have a border this year and get some more etablished plants from a garden centre next spring when all this virus is over! Fingers crossed! 
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