Busy Lizzies totally gone.

A lady i work for has always (every year) had a display of Busy Lizzies in the same border and they are always brilliant.
This year the whole lot have gone, not just leaves, the stems and everything have gone, there are two patches one a little further up the border. In one patch they are completely gone and in the other they are nearly gone.
When i went round to look at them it looked like typical slug damage but there are absolutely no signs whatsoever of slugs, no trails of even the slightest trail on any of the ones that are just about still there. She gets rabbits down the very bottom of the very big garden but they have been there for years too and this has never happened before.
Root rot or anything similar is out of the question as there is no wilt or any sign to indicate root trouble.
Have tried to find out what this might be online but can't find anything that 'fits'. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Have they literally gone overnight, or did the leave & stems shrivel away over several days/a week or so?

Have you looked amongst where the roots were to check if there's anything down there that's eaten then away causing the top growth to die?

 

My busy lizzies have been rubbish this year. hardly growing at all. Maybe it's just the weather they don't like.
Mrs Chopper

 

In an earlier post some people were complaining about the BL's dieing back . I grow quite a few BL's and said I never had any problems with them and that they are a robust little plant. Well me and my big mouth ! A lot of the ones I have planted have just lost all the flowers and leaves . These are ones grown from seed and also bought from various places . The strong wind and constant driving rain we had about 3 weeks ago seemed to be a cause for this. The pale colours seem to have fared worst the whites and pinks. My deep purple ones are fine .Has anyone any other ideas

 

my BL's gone exactly the same way and my brothers have too !!! just spent an hour pulling them up.I too would be interested to find out what the problem is.Ours have been growing in the ground and in pots ,we're mystified....

 

This is something that started about 5 yrs ago with me, about the time we had our first rubbish summer and been bad since.

 

I have been into Northampton town centre today and they have large pillars of busy lizzies and all the top plants have dropped flowers and leaves but the sides are growing fine .This has happened on all of the pillars throughout the centre. A weather problem maybe ??

Dave

 

There is no wilt on any of the remaining stems, you can see they have been chewed, but i have no idea what has eaten them.
The weather isn't to blame as the border is very sheltered from the elements and gets watered as necessary.
Can't say how quickly this happened because i didn't go to the garden for three weeks after planting them.
It looks like something that happened over a few days though.
Think i will go on the Royal Horticultural site and see if they have any ideas.
Thanks for the responses.

 

Did you check if there was any damage to the roots below ground? It was grubs eating the roots of mine that caused the plants to die off above ground.

 

I had Busy lizzies in a tub, they came on lovely a month ago the flowers looked lovely, then in the last week they suddenly died off and the leaves went yellow, i thought that don't seem right to me.

 

It's not a rogue rabbit by any chance. They eat just about anything.

 

I posted this problem in the RHS site and i think i have the cause..

Impatiens downy mildew / Royal Horticultural Society

This seems to make the most sense and fits with the symptoms.
Thanks for all the responses.

 

Widespred problem

1. I purchased over 100 plants in June and planted them in borders, tubs and baskets as I do with great success every year. By mid July I did not have one survivor as they all looked like the picture provided by Simon. I have a friend in Worcester who has had exactly the same experience.

 

Thanks for the info, just looked at the link and thats defo how my Busy Lizzies look like now, glad i read through the information says not to compost them, which i was thinking of doing today :thumb:

 

Good detective work Simon That is the problem I am having with my BL's , luckily it does not effect the New Guineas . So I will dig my effected ones up and bin them , and no bedding BL's for 2012 :(