Have you kept it watered through the long dry spells this year, have you given it a feed, has it been pruned at the wrong time, taking away most of the wood that would produce the flowers?

Hi Julien, I have followed the recommendations from the "endless summer" website for the last few years because it has to be cared for differently to the other macrophylla. I've had no problem before. I give a good watering every other day in the hot weather (not too often). In gloomy weather I check the ground for dampness every three days if it has been raining to see if it needs a little more water, fed during late spring, dead-headed the flowers as they turned and left the stems intact over winter. Stress!

It sounds like you have given it plenty of tlc, could it be down to the effects of last winters cold snap who knows, but i would say that on my rounds i have seen some shrubs that have under performed this year whereas some have been exceptional, maybe next year it will perk up, could you let us know how it does next year thanks.

I'm not sure what you mean about "clay-textured" soil, Moozi, but the rest of your comments seem to indicate that it is in a container? If so, is it the original container, and have you fed it any?

Thanks Julien, I think it must have been the winter followed by the humid summer with too much rain. Maybe it has a fungus, I'll just cover with dry mulch over winter and hope it's ok next year.

@Tugbrethil, "clay textured" - all micro-fine particles stuck together rather than a nice mix of soil. I must admit, I did nothing about it, and now that is probably the reason it has purple leaves. It's in the ground, not a pot, and has survived over two years of random weather so far, hope it has a few more years left in it yet :-)

You might want to give it some compost, and maybe gypsum, to fluff up that soil some. Sorry, I missed where you told Julien that you fed it in late spring. I would have fed it more often, but we need more nitrogen here in the desert, between heat-driven growth, and frequent watering.

@Tugbrethil. No, Wales definitely isn't a desert, in fact I don't think my wellies have been dry for years! Thanks for the tip on breaking up the soil, I'll try that.