I appreciate the help I get on this site. Many thanks to you kind people out there in "garden land". We have hundreds of plants and over 50 planting areas in our yard, so just maintenance is a HUGE job. Hence, unfortunately I don't have time to look for most other posts and reply to them. That said I have one more question for you all. Two years in a row now my volcano phlox has had this problem of splitting stems. Last year I thought "Oh, well. Will see how it does next year." But the same problem this year. They are planted beneath a rose of sharon that has grown to a small tree. They are also near a row of arborvitae. My husband says those really suck up moisture from any watering I do for the phlox. Don't know if that has anything to do with the problem. I am extremely careful about watering - always at ground level, not overhead as I have read that phlox are easily susceptible to mildew and don't like to be watered overhead. I also only water when I see that they need it so as to stay away from overwatering. This year I have tried to spray a fungicide on the plants, but does not seem to make a difference. [Maybe I was too late?] The lower leaves are turning a limp yellow. This condition of the leaves is gradually working its way up the canes. Because of the spots on the leaves, I was thinking maybe black spot, but don't know if that also causes canes to split. Any ideas? Possibly too much sun?

{{gwi:256401}}

{{gwi:256402}}