I am growing periwinkles in zone 7a and they have been doing wonderful. Lately, the blossoms have turned into a punny star shape and are no longer full. What could be causing this? I water about every other day and they are planted on the east in partial sun. I have put Miracle Grow on them twice since planted in May. The temperature has been in the 90's and we haven't had rain in about 10 days. Please help. I was excited that they were doing so well and somewhere I have gone wrong. Also, I am good about dead heading them and keeping weeds out.

Hey SnowAngel...glad you stopped by. This one is a stumper, but I wonder what do the leaves look like? Are they healthy and full?

Patrick

Thank you for replying. Yes, the leaves do look healthy. I wonder if maybe they are stressed somehow. Someone told me that they don't like a lot of water. I water them about every 2-3 days. Could they need more or less water? I have included some pictures of them. One with the normal flowers and the weird flowers on the same plant and a closeup of the weird ones. Remember the weird came up recently after the healthy ones. Have you ever seen anything like it before?

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I think that the healthy leaves and some flowers rules out poor moisture conditions. These are pretty hardy plants. I would first look very closely at the flowers and leaves to see if there are any tiny pests. Aphids could be sucking the new flowers dry. The fact that only certain regions of the plant have stunted growth also may point to a virus. Search around on Google for "Periwinkle Virus" and you'll find some information. The problem is that it takes deep knowledge to usually determine for sure if there is a virus. I sure couldn't! And the simplest solution in such a case is to dig up the plants and throw them away. Sorry I can't give you much good news.

Patrick

Thanks for the helpful advice. I appreciate you taking the time to try and help me. It may be my imagination, but I think they are starting to look slightly better. Who knows. I will keep my fingers crossed, baby them along and look up the viruses on the web. Thanks again and I plan to be a regular visitor to the website.