This is the second year for my montauk daisy. Both years it has been about 18 inches tall and full of fat flower buds. As last year, just when it seemed it was time for the buds to open, the plant withered, turned yellow to brown and pretty much died. What is wrong? There is no evidence of pests and it died just about the time we got rain after a pretty dry period. There may be a few stems that will survive and bloom. The plant looked perfectly healthy up to this event. My neighbor's plant is blooming beautifully as it did last year.

They like some shade. When they bloom, cut them back to the first node for repeat bloom, then cut the bloom stalk back to the base after the next blooms. In their favor, they're evergreen in zone 8. I think they're fond of acid soil, too. They're native to the southeastern USA. They also like dividing every 2-3 years or the fleshy roots will crowd each other out. You can take one teeny plant and by dividing, have a great long border edged with them very quickly. Nell

Okay, this is really weird. It's now one hour or so after I took that picture, still middle of the day, still the same temperature, still overcast. The plant has picked up completely. What the heck? No more droop, all flowers facing straight skyward. All I did was to poke around to soil under the mulch a little (not even near its roots) to see if things are too wet or too dry and to make sure the mulch isn't touching the crown of the plant. Everything was okay. I may have talked to the plant a bit in the process. Now it's happy again. Maybe this one ought to be renamed "Cranky Daisy".

Looks like a cultural problem. Most likely high soil moisture. Have you had a lot of rain lately? If so cut back on watering and let the soil to dry out. These leaves will not come back are unlikely to send out new leaves.