Question
I had three dwarf Korean lilacs which were planted 18 months ago in a mixed raised bed. The bed had top soil added to it alone with peat and was mulched with a landscape clothe and wood chips. It is on the west side of the house in full afternoon sun. Two of the bushes leafed out full and bloomed in the spring. the one in t he middle had only 2-3 branches that leafed out and after a month I got disgusted and replaced it with miss Kim. One of the other bushed did well until all of a sudden (and I mean in a matter of from morning till late afternoon) 2-3 blanches had limp looking leaves but I could find no pests. Slowly over a one to two week period all the leaves went limp , dried up and treed brown except to 2-3 branches. I dug it up to look for pests in the soil as recommended by greenhouse where I bought it and then took it in to them . They though that it had vercimillin (sp?) wilt. Now my last plant had 2-3 branches that have since wilted and so I cut them off but so far thane rest of the plant looks ok. by the way they said all the roots were dead-they were the color of dried out wood and brittle. please help. thank you.

Answer
Maimes,

It sounds like the plants may have declined due to lack of water. Have you been watering the bed regularly? Even with regular watering, you had already caused a problem with the addition of peat moss. Peat moss will grab and hold moiture, sometimes pulling the water away from the root systems of the plants. This would explain the dead look the roots had.

I would recommend installing a drip irrigation system in this bed to make sure the plants get watered well.

Good luck,
Ed Gulliksen