Garden Pests and Diseases: Does anyone know what causes this?, 0 by Elphaba

Elphaba wrote:
When I saw it, I thought of my ivy that died last summer. It had been healthy and beautiful for years and then we had much more rain than usual (48" in 3 mo.). I asked my neighbor who is a horticulturalist (is that a word?). He thought it was some kind of fungus in the soil. I didn't have time to look into how to remedy the problem and my ivy just died. Here's a pic. I don't know if it's the same kind of thing. It's just a thought.