If you were to look for low maintenance plants for your garden, the purple pixie would make it to one of the top names on your list. It has an intense purple colour which makes it an attractive plant.
Gardeners find it to be a must-have for their collections as these shrubs look amazing as side pieces. The rich purple hue adds a much needed pop of colour to the surroundings.
Pink flowers appear all over this purple shrub in the spring season which look pretty. The plant’s main use is that it acts as a good colour contrast in otherwise single coloured garden containers or beds. It requires full direct sun but can bear partial shade too.
The purple pixie can tolerate humidity, frost and moderate drought conditions. It is well-suited to moist soils which have proper drainage so that the plants are not submerged or drenched in water.
In Chinese, the purple pixie is also called Fringe Bush. It comes across as a large plant in sceneries and landscapes. The flower of this shrub has unique weeping qualities.
Purple Pixie Loropetalum Dying
Like mentioned before, this shrub is quite low maintenance so people find it easy to grow it in their gardens. But a lot of times it starts dying quite soon. It leaves the owners baffled as they believe that they were doing everything by the book.
If you have purple pixie shrubs in your garden and they have started wilting all of a sudden then you need to stop panicking because it seems to be a common occurrence.
Many newbies will find it difficult to reach the root cause of this issue but if you are a seasoned gardener then you can figure things out on your own. This article will be a great help to beginners who want to know the reasons why their purple pixie plants are dying all of a sudden.
As a starting point, you should look at the soil in which the shrub is planted. Everything usually begins from the soil.
Cultural Preferences
The most common situation with ornamental plants is that they cannot survive in too much water. They need well-drained soil to thrive. If the roots are soaked in water, they start rotting. It can also cause many other diseases in the plant.
Before planting the purple pixie in a particular soil, it is important to first check out the drainage situation . This plant requires moist soil but no extra water around. You need to make sure that there is no water accumulation in the soil.
Another important piece of information that gardeners have to keep in mind is that the purple pixie needs around 4 to 5 hours of sunlight. Ideally this should be direct sunlight but if for some reason the place where the plant is kept gets no sunlight then you can move its container to a spot that is under the sun for a few hours.
You can keep the plant back inside afterwards. Besides this you can also try to keep your purple pixies under filtered sunlight. Make sure that the duration of direct sunlight exposure does not exceed 4 to 5 hours or your plant will start to wilt.
Taking Care Of Your Purple Pixie
If the purple pixie gets the right kind of environment, it is bound to thrive. It is not the kind of shrub that requires too much fuss. It is categorised as a light feeder as it does not need a lot of food to grow properly. A seldom serving of tree food that is high in iron and sulphur is good enough for this shrub.
Besides over-watering, nutritional deficiencies are a common reason for these plants to die. These are not difficult requirements to meet so even if you do the bare minimum, the purple pixies will not die on your watch.
Some Common Tips To Prevent Purple Pixies From Dying
Most people who own this plant recommend that the pH value of the soil should remain at 7, not less and not more. If your plant starts to look like it is about to die then the first thing that you should do is, replant it.
Change its soil conditions. There might be some issue with the previous conditions that were causing your purple pixies to wilt.
Once you replant them, the second important step is to set a proper drainage system. This will enable the excess water to drain out of the container after you are done watering.
The other side of this situation is that the soil type in which you are planting your purple pixies might not be allowing for any moisture retention. This will leave the roots to dry out completely. In this case also the plant will start dying.
Too much heat around the shrubs can also cause the soil to dry out. It will also put a lot of stress on the plant.
This can cause issues with the proper growth of your purple pixies. Sudden temperature changes can also cause the plant to wilt out so be sure to keep a check on the surrounding temperatures.
Conclusion
Overall, the loropetalum purple pixies are not a difficult plant to look after. There are minor issues that can be causing trouble with their growth. These factors can be easily checked out and manipulated to make the shrubs thrive.
I live in Zone 7, mid Oklahoma. A local nursery planted several Cerise Charm Loropetalum plants/bushes on the north side of my house in March. All went well, they looked lovely and had deep pink flowers later on, but when our horrible dry 105 degree days hit later on for weeks on end, they began to drop their leaves and look like they were drying out. I faithfully watered them every day, but it did not help and are now down to almost sticks. What happened and what did I do wrong and will they return in the fall? Thank you.
Did you severely trim them back by chance? I’ve learned that Loropetalum don’t do well with severe pruning/trimming.
Holly Kelz Nursery
I have hundreds of tiny holes burrowed in all the branches of my larger plants. I think it is an insect that may be laying eggs because they drill into the branch and leave a 1/2 inch of sawdust sticking out of the hole.
What on earth is this insect, can I treat the bush, and can it kill my plant?
Cindy