How to tackle dead or dying shrubs

 
Hi.


After the cold winter I left any dead or dying garden shrubs till the
warmer weather to see if they would recover of their own volition. Some
have, but others haven't, so I'm wondering how best to tackle the
sufferers or whether it's a wasted effort.


Conditions: slightly acid soil, northfacing garden in a valley in
Cornwall, damp climate.


1. A hardy fuchsia: big, no leaves, flowers or signs of green anywhere
yet, but there is white inside the twigs. My inclination is to leave it
till maybe June. Anything else I should do?


2. A gangly willow-leaved hebe: the leaves are shrivelling from the
bottom of the plant up. How will it cope with a drastic prune and feed?


3. A hydrangea: has never flowered in ten years (hydrangeas do well in
our area), but in previous years it produced leaves. This year very
little except a few tiny green shoots at the base. It sits in a dappled
shady shrub border under a large cherry tree. Drastic prune and feed?


4. Euphorbia mellifera: up to last year it used to be a very large,
healthy specimen in a giant pot outside the front door (up against the
front wall, with full sun). I forgot to wrap it in bubblewrap this
winter so I think the frost killed it - there are a few brown shoots, no
greenery showing. Would it be OK to plant another one in the same soil
or is it possible there's life in the old one still?


Sorry this is so long! Any tips much appreciated.




--
hellomabel

 On Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:26:02 +0000, hellomabel


I think you've got the right approach. Fuchsias can be funny
blighters. Most of my smaller ones are starting to shoot but I've also
got two big ones (which were brought from a garden "oop north" that
usually has drastic winters like the last one) which haven't yet shown
signs of life but I'm giving them a while yet (if only because it'll
be such a bind to dig them out!).

If you mean hebe salicifolia, this is evergreen but is not (AFAIK at
least) totally hardy in the UK. Others may know more but I'd suggest
that this is probably a gonner. But always worth trying a hard prune
in case it regrows.

What type of hydrangea is it? Some flower on the previous season's
growth and some on current season's. You may be losing flowers because
of incorrect pruning.I have one hydrangea in shade that never flowers
properly and I keep meaning to move it but never seem to get round to
it. Those in full sun do far better.

I don't know much about this shrub so can't comment beyond saying that
my book says it's "half hardy" and so it may well have succumbed to
the exceptionally prolonged cold of  last winter. It flowers in late
spring so you'd expect there would be some growth now to support the
flowers.

Hope this helps a bit.

Jake

 
Jake;917936 Wrote:

Thanks for all your suggestions - much appreciated.


PS - why this thread seems to have migrated to the bracken one is a
mystery to me. Perhaps a moderator could move it to the 'tackle dead or
dying shrubs' one where it belongs? Thanks.




--
hellomabel

 
hellomabel;917893 Wrote:

Hi HelloMabel, I know the feeling ?? Also live in Cornwall and have
suffered like everyone else. I think the fuchsia will still come back
from the base and I would be inclined now to cut it hard down now.
I think the willow leaved hebe may be dead but if its going to shoot
(wnich I doubt) they will come from the base so again cut it back hard
now.
The hydrangea im suprised about, all mine are fine ?? and I suspect
the reason you've had no flowers is that you have been pruning it in the
winter ?? thus cutting off the flowers for the comming year ? What I do
is to remove one fifth of the bush to 12" so that every 5 years the
whole bush has been renewed (but the 4/5ths nor pruned, flower that
summer) Yes, I think that to prune it and feed it is your only option
but I think theres something else going on here ?? Does it get very dry
in Summer under that cherry tree ?
My honey bush (Euphorbia mellifera) also suffered badly this winter
and I see mine is comming from the base again ? I think I would leave it
a little longer and see what happens ! This last winter has killed
things that survived down here the year before and I think it was the
timing of the extreme cold that did the dammage, we went from 13o C to
-12oC very quickly, and the plants were all still very soft, had that
weather arrived after Christmas like 2010, I'm sure the dammage wouldnt
have been as bad.
Lets hope these winters dont deter people from replacing the plants
that gve our county its unique and wonderful flora that make it so
special.
Best wishes, Lannerman




--
lannerman

 
lannerman;917925 Wrote:

I agree about the fuchsia, but as it acts as a support for a rampant
chocolate vine I'm inclined to leave it unpruned.



Right, I'll do that.


No, I definitely haven't been pruning the hydrangea in the winter. I
left it in the hopes that it would recover but it hasn't. I suspect the
problem is it's in too-intense competition for water and nutrients from
the cherry tree and the other shrubs around it. I'm tempted to move it -
the question is where (full sun or dappled shade?) and when (now or
...?).



I dug around the roots to see if there were any shoots or greenery but
there weren't (in previous years there have been shoots by now). So I
dug it up and replaced it with another one and some fresh compost. As
you say, it was probably the fast frost and I hadn't wrapped it for
protection.



Thanks for all your suggestions - and I completely agree about our
county.

Thanks again!




--
hellomabel