Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Although we have native germanders here in the states and in Texas, when talking about a bush germander most are talking about the non native Teucrium fruticans 'Azureum' which is a tropical Mediterranean plant. And although this plant has proven to be a good work horse for heat and drout tolerance here in Texas, it wants most of its water to come from the sea air, something that Johnson City and the rest of the Hill Country are lacking. 

Our mission here at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is to promote native plants, so our expertise with this plant might not be up to par with our usual spot-on precision. We will try to help you out with your germander, the best we can.

Germanders, native and non native alike, love heat and full sun. As you have dappled sun and shade it might be that yours is looking for a little more light. The other quality that the natives and non natives share, is that they tolerate, if not prefer, rough infertile soil. They have to have good drainage. They can't have their feet stay wet for too long. So if this plant is in fancy soil, and on an irrigation system, it probably is not drying out enough between waterings. If this is the situation, back off on the watering and give it a bit of general fertilizer, a 20/20/20 mix, nothing too strong. Or a good dose of compost tea of some kind and see if that doesn't perk it up. 

These are the best case fixes. This is stuff you can control. The last guess might be the most logical one but the saddest, and this might be why your friend had the same problem. The native germanders do better than the Mediterranean ones because most have shiny smooth leaves. Mediterranean germanders have fuzzy, slightly glabrous leaves which can capture and hold water from the air. This year we had good humidity early in the season but all of that dried up and it has been as dry above ground as it has been below, and this might be the cause of your plants' unhappiness. You could try and water the plant from above in a spray type fashion by hand in the early morning or best after the sun has set, to see if that doesn't fool it. Also try and keep from pruning it at all, until next spring. The plant will do better if it is bushy, trapping any air moisture in its leaves. 

In case your germander doesn't make it, you might try native Teucrium cubense (Coast germander). It is smaller than the bush germander but has the same flower shape and look. If you are growing your bush germander for the blue foliage then you might also want to consider a native Cenizo. This plant looks a lot like the bush germander, slightly bigger leaves and much bigger flowers. This plant is tough and has the blueish silver tint to the leaves and would give your space a similar look. Leucophyllum candidum (Brewster county barometerbush) , Leucophyllum frutescens (Cenizo)