Question
I have a lavatera (beauty mix)that I planted from seed...one of 3. It was my most beautiful plant foliage-wise and starting to bud. All of a sudden today after several cloudy-moist days in the 70's with periods of light rain, the plant looks like it is going to die if I don't figure out what it needs....all the leaves are wilted. Its buddies all look pretty good still...not as bright green as they were. It is taking up a big central piece in a garden plot and late in the season for starting something else large there so I need it to get up and growing. Please help.

Answer
If the soil has not been allowed to dry completely, and it has not been exposed to extremely hot or extremely cold days, then I suspect your plant has been victim of bugs.

Check around the soil and if it is moist (not very wet, and not very done) then you should be ok. There is really nothing else you can do. It does not appear to me that temperature extremes are the case.

Sometimes, newly planted seedlings tend to lanquish if planted in cold soil which stays very wet especially with warm season annuals. In these cases, repotting in a pot planced in a warm space (against a light fence) with very well draining soil is a good idea.

You could try this.

To be safe, why don't you take a few cuttings and root them in soil or water so if the plant does die, you can re-establish the plant from a number of cuttings. 5-6 cuttings planted close together will in a month time given good conditions give appearence of a full plant.