Star jasmine trouble

[pineapplebryanbrown]

I have star jasmine on either side of my front door. It's about 15 years old and has always been lovely. Now one side of the door is lush and normal. The other side appears dead. They are two separate plants but get treated exactly the same. I can't work out why one side is flourishing and the other floundering. Any ideas please?

Could it be that one did not get enough water? Even with plants so close, one might be in a rain shadow. Last year and so far this year, it’s been very dry.

Could be the water (I've two adjacent rhododendrons, one of which was badly affected by the drought, the other wasn't).

Other possibilities might be some sort of root-attacking bug (don't know if jasmines are susceptible to any) or accidental spillage of something harmful - eg plants near lawns might accidentally suffer from overshoot of lawn weed killer.

Star jasmine only lives 15-20 years. Maybe the dead one just died of old age?

Thanks for your suggestions, I didn't realise they had a shelf life. Last year when it was so hot I wondered if I'd over watered. I had some rose food pellets which I gave to both of them. Just wondered if one side took offence and the other didn't.

I've trimmed the dead looking bits right back, there are new leaves at the bottom.

Here they are, do you think there's any hope for the sick one?

That does look pretty poorly. I would cut it right back almost to ground level and give it a couple of weeks to see if it shoots . If not turf it out and plant something else. I have honeysuckle romping about with my jasmine.

Feel your pain, I have two black sacks waiting to go to the dump , inside are my very old box bushes, looking much like your jasmine. Sometimes you just have to summon your inner kondo thank the plant for the joy it has given you, then move on......

viques thank you, I will cut it right down. Poor jasmine, I wonder why one side and not the other.

Sadly, I agree, it’s possibly beyond saving. If there’s no new shoots, before planting anything else in that spot I’d investigate the soil and make sure there’s no grubs in it, such as vine weevil.
If all ok, I’d still replace some of the soil with fresh compost and make sure the drainage is ok.

There are a few green leaves at the bottom. I think I'll do as a Pp suggested and trim it back right to the roots and see if it recovers. I planted it with my Dad who's now very ill and frail and I feel a bit phobic about completely giving up on it. No sense I know.

Sounds promising, please come back and let us know if you’ve managed to revive it. I love a happy ending!

beebumble me too! When woolworths was still with us I used to rescue their sadly neglected plants when they were reduced to pennies. They were called " wooliessticks" in the family because that's often what they were down to. Quite a lot of them died, but a good number revived and thrived. It's a very gratifying feeling.

Best wishes to your dad and the Jasmine thigh of relief hope they both bring you joy for a long time to come.

I see new green shoots, just a couple but they are there! Will take a pic soon.