I have had a similar problem with keeping thyme and sage from one year to the next. I am in Cornwall so I think the excessive rain we have had in the last few years might be why I have lost so many. I resorted to growing thyme from seed, it grows like mustard and cress! I have managed to keep a couple of pots alive, sown last year, I moved them into sheltered places during the winter and so far they look OK. I bought a large tatty plant of sage from the reduced corner in the autumn and have overwintered it on a window sill indoors where it is flourishing so I am going to keep it in a pot and next year overwinter it in the unheated greenhouse. I think the damp and wet is the answer. They hate it. I grow the upright Miss Jessop rosemary which seems quite happy, I finally replaced my venerable original plant with a strapping new bush, grown from a cutting, 3 years ago. The mother plant was about 20 years old and slowly began dying off. I have to support it with a stake as my garden is so windy, it doesn't take up so much room area-wise as the spreading variety, and looks a bit like a conifer without actually having a tree in the garden. The mother plant grew to about4/5 ft tall but was only 2/3 ft across the widest part so quite manageable. The leaves of rosemary are much tougher in texture and more upright so drain more easily than sage and thyme so perhaps is less affected by rain.
I am watching the creeping thymes rapidly die off around the garden and wonder if there will be any left in spring. I have also had problems with a particular geranium (Cantabrigiense) which has died off in many areas leaving stems that look as though they have been shrivelled by fire.
What with bad weather and possible disease, is the answer concrete and astroturf? It is certainly discouraging to have plants that have thrived in the garden for years, suddenly turn up their stems and drop dead en masse.
No - you just have to choose the right plants @Ceres , and accept that some things may not do quite so well in terms of growth. I grow thyme in pots so that I can tip them on their side or overwinter them undercover. If they're in almost total grit, rain passes through. I still have one variety growing here no problem. It's about three or four years old, and although it really struggled last winter, and part of the main plant died, the rest revived. Yesterday's hail, thunder and lightning , and today's snow, makes no difference, and nor does the excessive rain or sleet, or anything else we get here. It's about management as much as choosing the right plants, and it largely depends on whether a plant is worth it to you.
There are plants I don't bother with - especially in the ground, because they just wouldn't be worth the expense and bother in our climate [koreana clematis is a good example] but it doesn't mean there's nothing left worth growing
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thymes need good drainage, as @Fairygirl says, almost total grit and they'll be fine. I planted a low hedge of about nine common thyme plants in a 25/75 soil/grit mix and they look fine. I have very sandy soil though so it drains well. Any constant dampness and they will rot and die. They do need lots of sun.
Hardy geraniums are usually pretty robust. I haven't grown that variety but it is semi-evergreen so won't look too good at the moment. You could try pruning and dividing it soon and replanting in a more free draining mix of soil and grit. Don't be disheartened, your plants will reward you with much more than concrete and astroturf would!
The hardy geranium isn't suffering from damp. I have it all round the garden and it has done well for many years but the sudden dieback of one large patch has surprised me and I am worried it may spread to the other plants. I'll be keeping an eye on that part of the garden to see if it spreads to the other varieties............if it does then there will be a lot of gaps to fill. I have been growing cranesbills for decades and have never seen anything like this. Normally it rampages happily all over the place and the semi evergreen varieties rarely lose their foliage in winter. Right now there is bare earth where there used to be mounds of beautiful plants.
Is that the ones that have varieties like bio-kovo @Ceres? I have that one here and it's really invasive. It was useful initially when I moved in here, because there were virtually no plants, but it now throttles everything around it. I spent a while last year removing as much as I could, but it's all greening up again. I may have to resort to weed killer in the main bed it's in. If so - perhaps it's too dry for it where you are. It seems to love the soggy wet soil here - the bed it's worst in has got predominantly Acteas and Hydrangeas.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Were there any visual marks on the leaves of your geraniums such as small dark spots, sunken spots, discoloured yellow foliage or anything else before they died back? These symptoms can indicate a variety of possible diseases which can spread quickly when plants are grown close together with restricted airflow. Are you able to confirm any symptoms, when the decline started and how long it took to cause dieback?
It may very well be Biokovo, Fairygirl . It resembles that variety more than any other. I have found it survives very well in the hottest parts of the garden as well as in the shadier and damper spots. Indeed, it has been one of the drought busting plants that have survived the searing heat (not that we had any last summer though). When other plants have burnt in the sunshine, that geranium has kept going. The place where it has died off is on a slight slope, slightly shaded, and is neither arid nor wet.
The only weird thing about the dying geraniums, Plantminded, is a slight redness to the leaves followed by shrivelled stems.
The last few years have brought so many new diseases to the garden what with fire blight, kerria japonica going all weird on me (blight), rust all over everything that can get rust, and now the geraniums and thyme dying off......it is very vexing.
That does all sound very difficult @Ceres. I can't even suggest what the problem is with the geranium. That one I have is in a north west site, and our ground never dries out, even last year with the record breaking weather we had here. I have some right on the boundary at my front gate - again just as ground cover in front of the hedge, and that will be drier, but it's also in shade most of the time. Dry soil isn't really something we get much of. Perhaps there is something else going on if you're having trouble with other plants too. Many geraniums do get red leaves/stems at various times - especially autumn, but it's a normal process. It's certainly unusual for them to struggle. Rust is often due to poor air flow, so maybe you can take a look at addressing that with any affected plants. Hope you can get to the bottom of it all.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
I bought a large tatty plant of sage from the reduced corner in the autumn and have overwintered it on a window sill indoors where it is flourishing so I am going to keep it in a pot and next year overwinter it in the unheated greenhouse.
I think the damp and wet is the answer. They hate it.
I grow the upright Miss Jessop rosemary which seems quite happy, I finally replaced my venerable original plant with a strapping new bush, grown from a cutting, 3 years ago. The mother plant was about 20 years old and slowly began dying off. I have to support it with a stake as my garden is so windy, it doesn't take up so much room area-wise as the spreading variety, and looks a bit like a conifer without actually having a tree in the garden. The mother plant grew to about4/5 ft tall but was only 2/3 ft across the widest part so quite manageable. The leaves of rosemary are much tougher in texture and more upright so drain more easily than sage and thyme so perhaps is less affected by rain.
I grow thyme in pots so that I can tip them on their side or overwinter them undercover. If they're in almost total grit, rain passes through. I still have one variety growing here no problem. It's about three or four years old, and although it really struggled last winter, and part of the main plant died, the rest revived. Yesterday's hail, thunder and lightning , and today's snow, makes no difference, and nor does the excessive rain or sleet, or anything else we get here. It's about management as much as choosing the right plants, and it largely depends on whether a plant is worth it to you.
There are plants I don't bother with - especially in the ground, because they just wouldn't be worth the expense and bother in our climate [koreana clematis is a good example] but it doesn't mean there's nothing left worth growing
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Hardy geraniums are usually pretty robust. I haven't grown that variety but it is semi-evergreen so won't look too good at the moment. You could try pruning and dividing it soon and replanting in a more free draining mix of soil and grit. Don't be disheartened, your plants will reward you with much more than concrete and astroturf would!
I have that one here and it's really invasive. It was useful initially when I moved in here, because there were virtually no plants, but it now throttles everything around it. I spent a while last year removing as much as I could, but it's all greening up again. I may have to resort to weed killer in the main bed it's in.
If so - perhaps it's too dry for it where you are. It seems to love the soggy wet soil here - the bed it's worst in has got predominantly Acteas and Hydrangeas.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Perhaps there is something else going on if you're having trouble with other plants too. Many geraniums do get red leaves/stems at various times - especially autumn, but it's a normal process. It's certainly unusual for them to struggle.
Rust is often due to poor air flow, so maybe you can take a look at addressing that with any affected plants.
Hope you can get to the bottom of it all.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...