What are these brown spots on my salvia? And my Gregg’s mistflower looks wilted.

Thanks to Rita Schiferl for her great questions about her ‘Henry Duelberg’ salvia and Gregg’s mistflower!

This spring, she planted Gregg’s mistflower, and they looked frazzled when we went from cool temps to really hot ones in a few days.

She also has ‘Henry Duelberg ‘salvia showing similar symptoms of stress. Rita says that they’re planted on the northeast side of her home, in well-drained soil, and that they get sun for most of the day.

Well, Rita, take heart, I’ve seen very few perennials this year without these symptoms, including all the mealy blue sage in our demonstration garden.

Warm spring days and cool nights—along with lots of humidity—made conditions just right for fungi.

Also, tender new growth on perennials has very little protection from the environment, and with early warm temperatures, fast growth also inhibits air movement.

Trim plants back, removing as much of the infected leaf tissue as possible. Also, you might try to decrease humidity around the plants by only watering early in the morning, so that the soil and leaves have a bit of time to air before sundown.

Usually, as we move into summer and the air gets drier, fungal invasion should be h less of an issue. However, in humid summers, our plants can still get hit. In high temperatures, it’s best to avoid spraying leaves with fungicides.