Q. Half of my twisted myrtles on the east side of my
house are dead-looking with brown leaves. The same plants on the west side of
the house are not showing the same condition. I checked the soil water levels
with my water meter and they are plenty wet. Do you know what is wrong?
A. The plant is probably the ‘Boetica’ twisted myrtle.
It’s native to the Mediterranean region where soils are a little bit “richer”
than our Mojave Desert soils but should do well with occasional irrigation and
good soil drainage. Think Rosemary, olive trees, star jasmine, Italian cypress,
grapes, Spanish dagger, Bay Laurel and roses. These are not a true “desert
plant” but will handle drier locations in the landscape during summer months.
In fact, they like heat and sun a lot.
I’m
telling you this because irrigation and soil drainage, rather than exposure to
sunlight, is extremely important to these plants. These plants do not like wet
soils but prefer soils that drain well and are dry after irrigations. If soils
are wet because of irrigation or poor drainage,
Mediterranean plants like this one will die from “root rot”. If using a
soil moisture meter, irrigate again after the gauge registers about “five”
after dropping from “10” immediately after an irrigation.
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