Euphorbia Purpurea - Has it Died?

CatDouch

I planted 2 Euphorbia Purpurea last autumn and both have done well until a couple of days ago. As can be seen in the photo (sorry it’s sideways) the one on the left has changed to a pale orange colour and I wonder if it has died?  They have both been treated the same, planted in the same soil so I’m not sure what has happened.  Can anyone shed any light on what’s happened.  Thank you.

Dovefromabove

Bumping up

Fairygirl

Are you sure those aren't just the spent heads? It's not very easy to see from the photo without a close up view.
I'm not convinced it's E. purpurea. Where is the other one?

Loxley

There's one just to the right of it, which appears apple-green and healthy. E. purpurea seems to be much more prone to mildew than other euphorbias. Remove the faded flowers and see if the foliage looks healthy. If not you could try cutting the plant almost to the base to see if it regenerate, or replace. TBH these are among my least fave Euphorbias because of that mildew problem.

Fairygirl

Ah - I can just see the foliage a bit better on the other one now @Loxley. I wasn't sure if that was the other one or not. 
Quite a lot of Euphorbias can get a bit mildewy if the conditions are dry, but they're hard to kill, so it maybe just needs a bit more water than the healthier one. Certainly take the heads off and check the foliage. 

raisingirl

In my experience they do this now and then - they grow well for a couple of years then they have a year when they seem to die back. Sometimes they recover, sometimes they don't. It may be down to my soil (probably heavier than they'd ideally like) or maybe some varieties are just short-lived. E.Polychroma, E.purpurea and E.Characais all cycle in this way. I usually cut them back to the base and, maybe 4 times out of 5, they regrow.

TheGreenMan

I can't offer any advice as I've just got my first euphorbia but I wanted to say how lovely that border is @CDouch

CatDouch

Thanks for all your comments, it’s their first year and both have been watered the same so it’s quite strange.  I’ve cut it right back now so we’ll see if it recovers.  Thank you @JamesS-B for your lovely comment.