Many kinds of fungi attack ornamental plants and cause a wide range of symptoms on different plant parts:

On Flowers, Fruits, Leaves And Needles: These fungi cause black spots, blights, blisters, fuzzy white or orange coatings or deformities on flowers and foliage. The usual suspects are anthracnose, powdery or downy mildews and rusts.

Stems and Twigs: Stem infecting fungi cause blight, decay, dieback, and shelf like growths on bark surfaces. Most over-winter in dead stems or twigs and produce spores in spring or early summer.

Roots and Crowns: Root-infecting fungi usually live in the soil, causing decay of plant roots and/or crowns (where the roots join the stems at soil level). Pale, wilted lower leaves signal infected roots which are swollen, and discolored. Infected plants usually die. Damping Off disease of seedlings is an example of this type of disease.