Question
I have two sweet brooms plants right next to each other.  One just died but the other is fine.  They are on the same watering system and are treated the same.  What could have happened?
Thank you

Answer
Barbara,
I know how frustrating it can be when one plant thrives and another close by dies....it happens to everyone eventually. The problem is that sometimes it's hard to puzzle out why it happened because more than one thing might be going on. Sometimes it's a combination of factors that does a plant in. Some of the possibilities include: disease (usually fungal), insect or animal damage, fertilizer "burn" from too much fertilizer, or something going on under ground such as very compact soil, a leak in the irrigation system causing too much water etc.

If the plant is dry and crispy it's probably going to be difficult to notice insect/animal/fungal damage, but you can look very closely over the entire plant and see if you can spy holes in the stems (borers), sunken areas (fungi), chew marks (mice etc) or any other problem. You could also dig up the plant and look at the roots - if they look white and healthy than the problem was above ground. If they're stunted, mushy or smell bad the problem could be fungal.

And as I said, sometimes it's a combination of the above. And since plants, like people differ genetically we can't know if the plant is more prone to diseases etc because of it's genetics - we've all known someone who "seems to catch every virus that comes around" while others never get sick. Plants vary in the same way.

I'm sorry that I can't tell you for sure what killed your broom but it might be smart not to plant another broom in that spot but choose another plant for that location.

all the best,
C.L. Fornari