Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Friday - March 21, 2014
From: Las Vegas, NV
Region: Rocky Mountain
Topic: Diseases and Disorders, Soils, Vines
Title: Yellowing leaves on Carolina jessamine from Las Vegas NV
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
Carolina jessamine, has yellow leaves. 3 years old, grows on south wall, full sun. Same plant, in partial shade, has green leaves. Should I feed yellowish plant some nitrogen? If yes how much?ANSWER:
The first thing we do, when asked questions about a specific plant and problems with it, is to determine where that plant is native and whether being planted in the wrong soils and climate might be the cause of the problem. Follow this plant link to our webpage on Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina jessamine). By doing so and using the link under "Additional Resources" we found on the USDA Plant Profile Map that Carolina jessamine grows natively no nearer to Nevada than Texas, and far east Texas, at that. That means that Las Vegas NV, in Clark County at the southeast tip of Nevada, is well out of the native range for this plant.
However, if you have the plant and most of it has been growing well for 3 years, we next need to see if there is a problem in the location of the plants with the yellow leaves. On that same plant webpage, you will see these Growing Conditions:
"Growing Conditions
Water Use: Medium
Light Requirement: Sun , Part Shade
Soil Moisture: Moist
Soil pH: Acidic (pH<6.8) , Circumneutral (pH 6.8-7.2)
Cold Tolerant: yes
Heat Tolerant: yes
Soil Description: Moist, well-drained, humus-rich soil. pH adaptable. Sandy, Sandy Loam, Medium Loam, Clay Loam, Clay.
Conditions Comments: The best flowering occurs in full sun."
So, what does this tell us about the differing leaf colors? Well, not much. It does well in both sun (6 or more hours of sun a day) or part shade (2 to 6 hours of sun a day) and blooms better in full sun. But this concerns leaf colors, not blooms. Although it likes acidic soils, which you probably don't have, it is pH adaptable. That leaves us with the soils, which no doubt are the same soils in both parts of your garden. Look at the Soil Description above. What our radar is picking up is the phrase "Moist, well-drained..." A plant with yellowing leaves is usually suffering from chlorosis, caused by a problem preventing the roots from accessing necessary nutrients from the soil. We found a previous answer from Las Vegas that is very apropos to your problem, although it concerns a different plant. From that previous answer:
"Yellowish leaves could indicate chlorosis, or lack of iron being taken up by the plant from the soil. This is often caused by poor drainage and/or dense clay soil, which causes water to stand on the roots. Again, this could be a problem caused by planting, perhaps without any organic material added to hole, or damage to the tiny rootlets that take up water and trace elements, including iron, from the soil."
Now we feel the problem is narrowed down to that particular area, and it is up to you to do the rest of the detective work, as we don't make house calls. Check to see if the soil is too moist, or the plant is on a grade where excess water drains into the plant roots. If you have automatic watering, consider redirecting some of it, or simply cutting down on the water. You could try adding some iron supplement to the soil in that particular area, but not too much. Native plants in general don't much care for fertilizer. That plant's roots may simply be drowning, and adjustment in its environment is the best fix and the cheapest. And we don't recommend adding nitrogen. While nitrogen does encourage the production of more green leaves and is usually applied to grasses, the addition of nitrogen will just enourage more leaves to grow, probably still yellowing, and thus reduce the energy available for blooms.
More Diseases and Disorders Questions
Trimming of Escarpment Oak from Austin
May 18, 2014 - We have a 2-year-old quercus fusiformis in our front yard and have been advised by some people that we need to remove the bottom branches and trim the ends of the branches that are hanging far down. ...
view the full question and answer
Mountain Laurel slowly dying in San Antonio, TX
December 26, 2012 - My Texas Mountain Laurel seems to be dying in a slow unusual manner.
Over the past two weeks the leaves have been turning yellow and falling off starting with the south facing side of my multi-tru...
view the full question and answer
Replacement Yaupon holly doing poorly in Pflugerville, TX
May 09, 2012 - I had to replace quite a few shrubs after the drought last year. I live in Austin, TX. I have planted 3 dwarf yaupon holly bushes in the exact same place where the previous three same type of shrubs...
view the full question and answer
Trouble with live oak in McKinney, TX
June 13, 2013 - We moved into a suburban home with a live oak tree with a trunk diameter of about 50". I noticed recently how yellow the leaves look compared to the other live oak in the yard. There is not a pattern...
view the full question and answer
Corona de Cristo, guest or pest?
July 12, 2008 - We have had two recent speakers at the Austin Butterfly Forum with differing views as to whether Passiflora foetida is invasive in Texas. One believes that it's well-behaved and a a great butterfly ...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |
