A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 I'm killing my mandevilla!

I'm a total newbie here, but I'm seeking help for my poor mandevilla plant.

I bought it for my elderly mother for Mother's Day. Briefly, it was beautiful, twining up a wrought iron support for the car port and blooming nicely. Now, it's ratty looking, leaves are brown and/or blotchy, it's losing leaves, and it no longer blossoms. I live in the deep south. The plant is outside in a large container. I feed it with Miracle Grow once every 10 days or so. When it first started looking troubled and puny, I tried Miracid for awhile, but it didn't seem to make a difference. In fact, come to think of it, one of my other Miracid loving plants, a rhododendron, isn't doing well. It was in a container for a while, but I planted it in the ground. Its leaves turn brown.

Please help me rescue these plants--or at least help me to stop harming them!

Incidentally, we've had a rainier than usual early summmer.

Thanks in advance.

Weezie--think the peroxide cure would help here? I'd do a link, but don't know how. Like you I'm not really familiar with Mandavilla--wrong zone-- but it sounds like maybe too much fertilizer and too much water?