I planted liriope muscari, "blue lilyturf," in the spring. They established
well, but every so often one of them will turn brown. A couple died off, some
maybe have half the clumps turn brown. It starts as yellowing of some leaves,
then quickly spreads to more of the plant until quite a lot of it is brown. A
couple of the plants get hit directly by water, which I'm wondering if that
could be rotting it or something, but they really don't get an unusually high
amount of water compared to any other plants in my yard. Another thought I had
is that they are planted amongst a groundcover (moneywort) and perhaps the
roots of that are suffocating them or something like this? It is also very hot
here right now (I'm in S. California, about 30 miles inland w/ only very
minimal coastal influences), so perhaps the sun is messing with them. But
then, why would only a few be affected and most look perfectly healthy. The
only other thought I have is perhaps soil condition or some kind of fungus.
Unless some were just planted badly, but if that were the case, wouldn't they
have degenerated a long time ago instead of waiting to get established first?
Anyway, I'm confused and would appreciate any help so I can save these plants
from getting worse. . .btw, the ones that do brown. ..should I just cut away
the dead stuff or leave it until right before next spring? I'm thinking
perhaps if I cut away the dead stuff this could somehow encourage more dead
stuff to occur. ..who knows. . .I need help here!