Thanks in advance for any help.

to avoid.. try not planting in august ....

snip off the offenders if it makes you feel better..

i would just ignore them..and water properly ... especially considering .. the new growth looks great ...

ken

to avoid shocking plants ...

how hot was it in the weeks after planting??? hundreds??.. 90's???

with hot humid nights following???

one of the reasons we plant in spring.. is that warm days.. are followed by cool nights .. allowing transplants to recover ...

frankly.. you ought to feel lucky they lived.. and look as good as they do ... and except for a few scarred leaves.. they look very good ....

damage to leaf tissue... can take weeks.. if not months to appear [some conifers] ....

relax.. i figure you won... take credit..they would not be budding out that vigorously if there had been significant damage ....

ken

There are fungicides you could use but all these will do is prevent the infection from spreading to new growth. And the new growth looks very healthy at this point. I would just suggest monitoring it for the time being and the cutting back as suggested above can help a lot, especially as it applies to appearance :-) But hold off on this until the plants are better established.....maybe next spring.

You are not limited to planting in spring only but it is important to realize that planting in the heat and dryness of August creates unnecessary stress for plants. The cooler, wetter weather of spring or fall is a better choice.

Thanks for the replies thus far. Since someone suggested a possibility of fungus, I am leaning toward nipping the affected leaves.

Invasion map.

The perennials I've planted when the temp is closer to 50 or 60 have done a great deal better than those I've planted when temps were higher.

I have an entire hillside covered with vinca my parents planted 40+ years ago that blooms profusely in spring--the bees just love the periwinkle blue flowers. It's one tough perennial in my experience

Anyway, I take care of a garden which has a bed that is chock full of vinca, to the point where I rip handfuls out every spring and often in the fall as well. I often see this spotting and the browning of leaves exactly as in your photos, and I deal with it by.... doing nothing. Okay, I am a lazy gardener, I admit. But as long as it affects only a small percentage (which for me, it does) and as long as new growth looks healthy (which for me - and you! - it does) I don't worry much about it. I might snip out some of the offending vines if it's in a very visible spot, but that's about it.

This plant is so indestructible (in my experience) and so aggressive that I feel there are other, more important, plant-related things to worry about first.

This approach doesn't help you if you are truly worried, or have just a small patch that is affected and the spots and discoloration stand out, but to me, your vinca looks overall very healthy and I wouldn't be too concerned.

By all means, if this is a serious fungal disease that someone can identify and suggest options for, listen to them and not me! But I do think once your patch gets growing and you see how vigorous it is, you won't be so concerned.

Good luck!
Dee

The spots are widespread enough, maybe 40% of my clumps, that I'm too lazy to nip all the affected leaves. So I bought an Ortho product containing one of the chemicals named in the article above. I don't think I'll be able to eradicate the fungus (if that is indeed what it is), because it isn't practical to spray the undersides of the leaves...but if it is Botrytis, then hopefully the chemical will keep it under control.

Thanks for the help everyone.

I believe any vinca is unkillable myself and it definitely doesn't need to be babied or good soil. Vinca Major, which is worse, is aggressively invasive, it turns wilty in heat and crispy brown if not watered, it will overrun anything and everything in its path and it doesn't even make for a good weed barrier. Its the classic "not nice neighbor who plants this by your property line" plant.

Just an observation from someone who sees this stuff growing everywhere and under every tree.

I have seen large patches of it creeping into woodland and hillside from property owners who do not keep their invasive plants corralled.

Easiest to remove by constantly mowing it back, especially in drought, or smother it with several layers of cardboard and mulch.

I didn't realize it's potential to travel until I tried to take some from that area and plant it in a sunnier area of the back garden, where it quickly developed from 3 small plants to a 6ft patch in one season. So it was removed after one season there. I didn't find it much harder to remove than any other plant. We pulled it all by hand and I haven't had regrowth since. I have a weedy plant in the yard that may be a Campanula that gives me much more trouble than this plant did. One I have pulled and pulled and pulled and it always returns. And nowhere near as bad as Witchgrass, which caused me to shut down my vegetable garden for 2 years because I was so sick of dealing with it.