My agave parryii died this year, I think from all the rain this spring. It's not in a raised bed and when it rains the runoff goes that way. Will have to raise it up and try again. I also have a coral honeysuckle that is slowly dying, it's been there for years.

Lorelei, my coral honeysuckle is not looking good either. Part of the problem with it and a few other plants is that the trees grew so large with all the rain that they shaded plants that prefer more sun. There will be some major moving and trimming of plants this winter to compensate.

I mentioned it in another thread, but it bares repeating~two, three year old Crepe Myrtles, approximately 8' tall x 6' wide died over the last couple of months. I didn't do anything differently this year than I did last year, and the heat was just as intense. In the last 2 years, i've also lost 4 trees, two had rotted from the inside, a third went from green to brown, and the fourth kept leaning in every direction as I kept restaking it. and it AND I, finally gave up, after one of the many rain storms took it to the ground. It was as though the root system came detached from the soil.

The only thing hanging on are the five Crepe Myrtle trees which were put in at the same time as the Wax Myrtles, and I should probably be knocking on wood!

I keep thinking not enough of the caliche was removed and enough good soil added. I'm afraid to replant anything, but I would like trees in my backyard! The builder planted an assortment of bushes in the front yard, and in the seven years i've been in the house, none have died. The bushes haven't grown huge, so I think they may all be dwarf varieties, which leads me to believe the root system isn't as deep, reaching to the caliche. Does any of this make sense?

I think you hit it right on the head, I know in North Texas we have lost more plants this Summer than in the past 2 years when the extreme drought was in full force, everyone I talk to seems to have the same consensus. 2 years of drought causing stress, and I believe plants learning to cope with these conditions, followed by a complete opposite Spring with historic rains for an extended period, then again more drought. Root tips rotted with the rain, fungus takes hold, and had no way to take up nutrients and water, then it got hot and dry, causing heavy stress, and for many, death. A 25 year old Abelia frankly has lived its life and run out of steam, remember plants have a lifespan like the rest of us. Hope this helps.

Star, I think you hit the nail on the head with your explanation of how the fungus takes hold.

And, you know, having observed so many huge old Abelias through the years I never even thought about it being at the end of its lifespan. I looked it up on Google and one site said they could be expected to live from 5 to 20 years.

So I'm going to have to say goodbye to a faithful, beautiful and undemanding plant, enlist my hubby to grub it out, dig in a bunch of compost to improve the soil, and plant something else.

Actually I'd love to have another fresh Abelia, but do I dare? Whatcha' think?

Any chance of it renewing itself if cut all the way back?

Thank you.

Abelia is a solid long living shrub, many new varieties in the past 5 years have come around with different colors and sizes, they do best with plenty of sun, so keep in mind that your entire landscape may have changed over 25 years as well, (amount of light from trees being the biggest change for most) what may have been full sun could be full shade now, just generalizing. Definitely take this time to recompost the beds, the fertility can really dissipate over the years and new planting is the ideal time to revitalize everything.

I lost gobs of cactus in my cactus bed. fire ants moved in when I was out of town and smothered some large clumps. hail caused rot in other odd prickly pears. . a well established rosemary, about 5 ' tall is croaking. I should dig it up. And plot a new one there. Some grasses that I am trying to establish are having a tough time. My Salvia regla who has lived through the big drought is having a tough time. . I have seen it struggle in droughts following wet periods so I did give it some water every other week during then summer. It did not bloom this fall until these rains. I have a few blooms on them now. Nothing to write home about. My Salvia gregii is blooming after looking like twigs and dried spice on a stick. They usually bloom in September.

Too much rain: weekend of Oct 23-24 we had almost 8" of rain. Halloween weekend, we had almost 10" of rain and 10" over Memorial Day weekend. So almost our annual rainfall over 3 weekends over 5 months. That's truly crazy weather. And tough for many plants to handle.