[MikeHardman]

I have a bed including an arc of ten Gaura linderheimeri (pink). I planted them as young plants from a nursery last spring, they flowered well last summer, I cut them back by 90-95% on 5jan14 (when they were showing signs of sprouting from the base), and they have bushed-up nicely now - promising another excellent show of flowers this summer.
...All except one, in the middle of the arc, which has some shoots mottled yellow and stunted relative to some adjacent shoots which are as good as on adjacent plants. All the plants in as much of an identical setting as you could imagine practically - bare soil on one side, Carpobrotus on the other (kept at bay by pruning), soil ~identical, exposure ~identical, etc. No signs of cat/dog peeing.

So - is this virus? and what does the team think - have it out?, prune-out infected parts?, treat with something?

Your thoughts appreciated..
Mike

[David Bracey]

Mike leave it for moment.  It may be the effect of soil, water (I notice the dreaded black mamba) or something inherent in the plant . No need to panic...yet.

[MikeHardman]

OK, thanks David; it is showing signs of outgrowing the problem // Mike

[jmw]

I have a big bed of Gauraa grown from seed Mike, and they show this yellow mottling every spring as they begin to regrow. Because I grow from seed I suspect it is some sort of physiological problem. As mine enlarge and weather warms up, the streaking disappears. I have just inspected my 30 odd plants and can't see any sign yet many were quite yellow in spring. Hope this helps - I think it is the 'turn a blind eye' category.

[MikeHardman]

Thanks you, Jo.

I think I shall not so much turn a blind eye as squint slyly at it from time to time; monitor it, especially at the same time next year. It is peculiar it is only one plant out of ten. Maybe next year others will show the same symptoms; or maybe this one will show none.

Speaking of longer-term: I gather the plants are not long lived. How long should I expect? And how do they die-off? I'm thinking about replanting planning.

[jmw]

I do wonder if it is the same plants each year which yellow, but have never been organised enough to check Mike. They are somewhat short lived but seed readily in my gravel so replacements pop up. I know some of mine are at least 6 years old. I think they are best planted in a large swathe. They seem impervious to my gale force winds. This autumn I plan to cut them back before winter as the stems are hard work in ealry spring.

[MikeHardman]

Just for reference, I cut mine back before the spring:
- to reduce wind rock (it does seem to be an issue here)
- because that's when the new shoots started coming (I didn't want them to come on bits I was going to cut off)
- so the prunings could be used as cuttings (little soft new growth on them)

The cuttings were also good, I fancied, because I was able to select multiply-branched bits, put them in the cuttings medium with the branch unions below surface - hoping that rooting would take place from a wider area, giving them better anchorage against future winds.