My perennial garden did fairly well this year - lost some hollyhocks, delphiniums and a few football mums. Otherwise I am very happy! Can't wait to see it next year! The one problem I haven't been able to figure out this year is some browning on the lower foliage of some of the plants. It is mainly on my asters. Some look great, others look so-so, but almost all of them have brown, dying foliage on the bottom of the plants. Some of the tops of the plants are lush and green, some of the tops of the others are wilted and blotchy. Not sure what the cause of this is?

Sounds like either root rot or foot rot. Both are fungi which is harbored in the soil as a result of either poor air circulation, poor drainage, overwatering/excessive rain, or all three.

You could try a cornmeal spray or dusting and see if this helps to halt its spread. But when this happened to me I removed all the browned foliage and some even further up. Then I cut the plants back 1/3, removed whatever mulch that was below and around them and even removed the top couple inches or so of soil.

If the plants had gotten too wilty at the top as you mentioned some of yours are, then I would've cut them back by 1/2. If they were just too far gone, I would've yanked them or just cut them down to the ground and chalk that season's bloom up for lost. Once they're that infected w/the fungus, they really wouldn't have bloomed all that much anyway. Or at all.

If it had happened the following season, I would've removed the plants from that spot altogether because that would have meant that the fungus was still present in the soil. I would've just planted something else there that wasn't as susceptible as the asters and gotten new asters to plant in a different location. Fortunately, I lucked out the following seasons and it never happened again.

Hope some of my experiences w/this can be of some help to you.

Thank you. If excessive water can cause it, that may be the culprit because we've had nasty thunderstorms all summer! I'll try cutting them back like you said and cross my fingers. Thanks again!