Advice Needed: What's the matter with these flowers?

[funkybutt]

I planted these flowers months ago and for the most part, they've been doing very well. For a while there, they looked great! Then we had a bug issue and the leaves got holes in them. I sprayed some bug stuff on them and they flourished once again. Now something else seems to be ailing them. I'm in New Orleans. Temperatures are still getting up into the 80s every day. We've had plenty of rain lately. Should I cut away all the dead areas?

[Blue Gardener]

1. Could be a fungal disease

Best bet would be to tear out the bad stuff and start all over. Make sure to dispose of the infected plants, but not in the compost bin.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Looks like Summer Blight

although I can't be certain.
It wipes out our Blackeyed Susans every year.

[Imalittleteapot]

3. Could be spider mites.

I stopped planting zinnias a couple of years ago because they always got attacked by spider mites.

[funkybutt]

4. thanks for the input

Temperatures are now down in the 60s and 70s. It should be cooling up slowly over the next couple of months. What would you recommend as a winter replacement plant for this bed?

I'm so clueless about plants. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

:hi:

[japple]

5. Maybe you could plant some herbs. Since you don't have to

worry about them wintering-over, just about anything would work. I love pineapple sage (so do the bees and hummers), thymes, and, my favorite, lavender. I live in N. Georgia and love the way lantana blooms all the time and never seems to succumb to much of anything, even with our severe drought. I gave up on zinnias, too, because of their problems with mildew. That was before the drought!

[OnionPatch]

6. Whatever it is, I have it too!

My zinnias look just like that right now. I was thinking it was because maybe they didn't get enough water, but you say yours did get enough.

Around here, everyone replaces their summer annuals with pansies and flowering kale. I'm a little higher elevation, and get too much cold to grow winter flowers.

[DawgHouse]

7. Are they in the sun?

I can't really tell from the photo; are those azaleas in the background? My zinnias do great but they are in a very sunny location. They don't do so good in shady areas.

[Libby2]

8. They look like Zinnias that have not had enough

water and then started getting ample water.