Aside, but related: I had a nice 'Pink Delight' butterfly bush in my yard in Sacramento. I also had a big telescope that I'd bring kids and parents over for a barbeque then viewing. When the kids were waiting for a turn at the eyepiece, I'd send them over with a red flashlight to look at all the critters on the butterfly bush and have them count how many different things they'd see. During the day, you'd get about half of what you'd see on it at night. And insect eyes are much more interesting reflecting red light & sometimes the kids would have more fun at the shrub than the eyepiece... Dan

I know mint grows fine in the ground in central FL and the 'soil' is all sand with way too good drainage. I wouldn't put potting soil in the ground, I think doing that right around a plant tends to cause more problems than it solves, I would instead amend a larger area of soil by mixing in compost. You do have to water mint it likes water. You might give it a few days to see if it perks up, if not maybe move it to an area that gets more water like near a gutter outlet or under an eve (not standing water but more water-you kinda have to work to drown mint though it's possible, my mom's done it). You might mulch too to help retain water. My mint is all munched on too. I've seen cabbage loopers (I believe-light green caterpillars that make a loop when they move) on them and the basil next to it, you could take care of this with Bt (Dipel). I mostly blame crickets at night for the mint, but they were also eating the leaf heads right off my garden seedlings. That made me mad. So, I went on a murderous cricket rampage, placing glasses filled with a mix of molasses, lemon, vanilla and water all about my garden. The crickets happily dove right into the glasses and drowned. This seems to have helps my seedlings, I'm not sure about the mint yet. Oh, holes in just the center of plant's leaves often suggests snails and slugs, look at night with a flashlight for them.

Without seeing it, my first thought goes to fungus gnat, as you mentioned. You can try a mix of regular store bought hydrogen peroxide and water to try and kill them in the larval stage. Second thought would be wireworms, and if allowed to finish life-cycle, become click-bugs. Same thing kills them. Here is a link that might be useful: Kill fungus gnat worms & wire-worms w/peroxide & water This post was edited by MsMorningSong on Sun, Jun 8, 14 at 19:34

Hello folks - thanks for shedding some light on this - if anything it makes me relieved to hear bugs may not be at play so I dont have to worry about stuff breeding etc lol. I dont think Clemson does soil testing here, but I heard something local from someone at work which I will follow up on. The sun has been the same every spring/ summer - no change there. We moved here 2 years ago during fall - they were growing fine then. Next summer I may not have watered them enough as I saw burn spots on the hydrangea leaves and some of them were big patches. Following fall I hired someone for some yard work and they said our hydrangeas/ rose etc. had grown a lot and needed trimming so they went ahead and trimmed everything to 2-3 feet. The spring after (this year) - these guys esp the hydrangeas have been growing like crazy with less flower output than last year. I have also been watering more regularly - although there are still some burn spots - not as bad as last summer. So that's about all the history I know about these guys ;-) Btw - I m worried the pyroligneous acid will kill useful soil bacteria/ bugs as well. And doesn't it go against the theory that bugs are not at play here? Thanks.